Wayward Son
A Monster Squad Novel
Heath Stallcup
Edited by TW Brown
Cover by Jeffrey Kosh
Wayward Son; A Monster Squad Novel
©2015 Heath Stallcup
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living, dead, or otherwise, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.
DEDICATION
To all the little monsters that invade my house, bite my ankles, hang on the drapes and swing from the rafters. Whether direct progeny or spawn of my progeny, you’re all precious wee beasties and I wouldn’t trade any of you. Even for bacon…well. Maybe for bacon. So check yourselves.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Yes, I always thank my beautiful wife, Jessie. She’s the one who challenged me to start this and she’s the one who has given up so much so that I can.
I always have to give a shout out to the Tufo’s. Sometimes those who offer so much ask the least.
Linda Coffman and my sister Sheila who proofreads these before Todd edits them.
Vix, who volunteered to beta read for me…not only to keep me true to the originals, but to keep me on course.
Last, but certainly not least, the fans who read these stories and keep the characters alive.
Thank you.
-Heath
Wayward Son
A Monster Squad Novel
By
Heath Stallcup
1
Mitchell ground his teeth so hard he knew the men in the stairwell could hear it. He grabbed the closest security specialist and pulled him close. “You! Cover his six. Nothing happens to the XO, you read me, soldier?”
“Roger that, sir.” Matt nodded then pushed the man into the elevator with Tufo.
Mark looked down from the top of the elevator and shook his head. “There’s room for me in here, but if you expect me to pull your heavy ass up here, you better shed some of that gear.” He shot the man a wink.
“Greene, Kowalski!” The security specialist waved over two more men and began hoisting them up into the overhead of the car. “Keep the XO safe.”
“Ready on the east side,” security reported through the radios.
Kowalski pulled his own radio. “Ready on the west side. Let’s do this.”
Personnel pressed the button for topside then stepped out of the elevators. Watching the doors shut, Mitchell whispered a silent prayer for all of the men.
*****
Jack slowly peered out from the base of the tower and stared at the large man wiping sand from his face. He watched as Apollo pulled a pistol from his thigh holster and began marching across the sandy beach toward the castle proper.
Jack stepped out and made his presence known. “Apollo?”
Apollo quickly turned and glared at the man who was once his best friend. “You.” The venom in his voice was unmistakable.
“Apollo, what the hell is going on?” Jack asked, the wind knocked from his sails. “Why would you do this?”
“You traitorous son of a bitch.” Apollo tried to run in the soft sand, his intention plain.
“Why?” Jack slowly began backing away.
“You never told me about Maria, you bastard. You should have told me about her and Hank!” Apollo jumped in the air and swung at his head. Jack ducked and rolled away from the larger man.
“What the hell are you talking about?” He was honestly confused and still trying to come to terms with why his friend would attack and try to kill them after all they had been through.
“You knew!” Apollo swung and connected a glancing blow with Jack’s shoulder, spinning him. “You knew she was fucking the Padre, and you didn’t tell me!” He attempted a flying kick that Jack avoided by leaping face first into the sand.
“Apollo, I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Jack rolled to the side just as Apollo brought a heavy booted foot down.
“Don’t try to lie to me, you little skinny bastard!” Another stomp would have crushed Jack’s chest had he not caught his foot. Jack strained to hold the larger man’s weight then pushed for all he was worth, throwing Apollo off balance and backwards.
“I swear to God I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Jack flipped back to avoid Apollo’s flying foot, following with a kick up to land on his feet. “This is stupid, Apollo! If I had known anything about Maria and the Padre, I would have told you.”
Apollo froze and literally growled at him. “You wanted me to stay focused on the mission. You couldn’t risk me being distracted.”
“Bullshit!” Jack dropped his hands and pointed at the man. “You were my friend. Brothers first! Always!” The glare that Jack shot at Apollo shook the larger man. For the first time since Sheridan came to him with the revelation of Maria and Hank, his faith in what he thought he knew was rattled.
Apollo shook his head slowly. “No. No, this isn’t right. You had to know.”
“I didn’t dammit. If I did, I would have said something—”
“You KNEW!” Apollo screamed, catching Jack off guard. “You had to.” His jaw trembled and his eyes threatened tears as he considered his actions. He felt his knees weaken and the fight left him as he realized what he had done.
He was the traitor. He had turned against his own people. He gave Sheridan’s men intel that would help them take down the teams. He had drawn out detailed plans. He told them everything. Everything.
Jack stepped closer and shook his head, “Apollo, I have no idea who planted this shit in your head, but…”
“Sheridan.” Apollo’s voice was hoarse, his throat dry as he considered the consequences. Traitors deserve a traitor’s death.
“Sheridan?” Jack couldn’t be sure he heard correctly. “From Team One? That Sheridan?”
Apollo nodded as his legs trembled and his knees went out from under him, his large body sinking to the sand. “He showed me video of them.” His eyes rose and met Jack’s. “Marshall knew…he caught them.”
Jack stepped closer, his shoulders slumped. “Oh God, buddy. Sheridan is a snake. You can’t believe anything he says. He’s supposed to be in witness protection. It was part of the deal for turning in those who hired him to kill Thorn.”
Apollo lowered his face and sobbed. “I killed them, Chief. It’s all my fault.”
Mueller ran up from behind Apollo and slid to a stop. “The attackers are coming back for another hit! They’ve taken out most of the Lycans!”
Jack growled deep in his throat and fought the desire to shift. He stared down at Apollo then up to Mueller. “Get him out of here. I’ll deal with them.”
*****
Mick lifted Laura upright as she reached out and caught herself on the side of the airplane. “I’m sorry.” Her voice was barely a whisper as she tried to catch her breath. “Did you say that they’re under attack?”
“We pulled stills from a satellite, Ms. Youngblood. They are indeed.” Pablo lifted his arm and allowed her to scroll through images on his ruggedized PDA. “We haven’t been able to identify any of the attackers. They aren’t wearing uniforms.”
“Wait…” Jennifer pushed her way forward and reached for Pablo’s arm. “You said that—”
Pablo pulled his arm away rudely, interrupting her. “This is classified material.”
Laura reached out gently and took his arm. “She’s with me, Pablo. Besides, she sounded like she may know w
hat’s going on.” Her expectant eyes met Jennifer’s.
“It was something my father said before we left.” She shrugged and glanced away. “He said that they were preparing to attack the people responsible for taking me.”
Laura felt her chest tighten. “Oh, no.”
“Who is this man?” Pablo questioned. “Does he have such resources?”
Mick stepped forward, “Walter Simmons. Based out of Belize.”
Pablo nodded. “There are rumors that he harbors werewolves.”
Jennifer quickly turned to stare at Laura who gave her a subtle shake of her head. “He has a lot of financial resources.” Laura stepped forward and wrapped her arm through Pablo’s. “Can you escort us to our quarters? We’re all exhausted and I’d like a chance to try to reach my people.”
“Their communications are down, Ms. Youngblood.”
“But maybe a cell phone is working. Or a hard line to someone else at the base and they can send support?”
Pablo nodded and motioned them to a waiting truck. “We’ll get you settled and then I’ll see to getting you to a phone.”
“Thank you.”
*****
“We got you covered here,” Gus stated as he fired down the hallway. “They’re concentrated on the other end. I wish I knew where these sons of bitches were coming from.”
“I saw some boats approaching. But seriously, how many people can fit in those things?” Jimmy asked.
“If they are smuggling boats, more than you’d think,” Rufus replied.
He rounded the corner at the base of the stairs and chanced a glance down the hallway. Men in civilian clothing and automatic weapons fired randomly down the hallway. He looked to Paul and shook his head.
He pulled Paul close, “I won’t risk using the weapon on them in human form.”
“The ones outside shifted. I saw them before the chopper tried to turn us to Swiss cheese.”
Rufus motioned toward the door, and the two men darted across the short opening and for the front doors. “If you see a wolf, point him out to me.” Rufus shifted the weapon on his shoulder and moved to the front again.
“Oh, you can count on that.” Paul slid back in behind his brother and allowed him to be a shield. “You can bet those bastards are using silver bullets.”
“Oui. You can feel it in the air.” Rufus stifled a cough as he moved closer to what used to be the front doors.
He kicked at the shattered timbers and moved them out of his way. Stepping over the remains of door frames, he stepped out to the stone steps and swept the area with the weapon. Nothing.
The pair worked their way down the length of the house, following the sound of battle, rounding the corner to see wolves and other supernatural creatures slashing and dashing, swooping and clashing. The battle raged furiously as he leveled the weapon and took aim.
Paul rested a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Aren’t you afraid you might hit some of our own wolves?”
Rufus shook his head. “Acceptable losses.”
“Hey!” Pedro yelled as he turned toward the pair of vampires. “Is that the doo-hickey that Doc…” Rufus spun and aimed the device at Pedro. Gonzales saw the movement and dove to the side just as Rufus squeezed the trigger.
The ensuing blast lit the night sky and paused the fighting for only a moment as all eyes turned to the corner of the house. The second story veranda creaked as it teetered and fell, collapsing at the corner. Pedro got to his feet and ran to where the pair of vampires had been standing. There was a large blackened crater filled with pieces of the second story deck and bits of stone debris.
“Son of a—” A bullet whizzed by grabbing his attention once more. “Time to end this…”
*****
Sheridan slipped in behind the wheel of the van and drove it closer to the hangar. He sat in the front seat and watched as his men would slowly approach the stairwell entrance and set up on either side of the steel doors. One would snap the door open and another would toss a grenade inside just before the door was slammed shut. The men waited for the flashbang to report before throwing open the door and mowing down any unlucky soul close enough to take a bullet. Sheridan laughed with the giddy glee of a schoolgirl, beating on the dash and steering wheel as he watched his people slice the squads to ribbons.
Something caught his men’s attention as they turned to the side, their weapons brought to bear. He soon realized that the lift doors had opened. Surely nobody was foolhardy enough to try to storm the upper level by elevator? He watched as his men slowly advanced on the lift car.
The men closest turned to the others and shrugged. Apparently the lift was empty. Sheridan shook his head, unable to comprehend what the purpose of…then he watched in horror as the men closest to the lift doors erupted in bloody gunfire. Shreds of meat and blood flew outward and downward, their bodies falling to the floor. The other men hit the floor or dove for cover.
The moment the firing began, the steel doors flew open; security forces flowed out, running and diving for cover of their own. Then the ceilings of the lifts fell out and men poured from the lift cars. Sheridan screamed into his coms. He barked orders to the wolves in the hangar, but most fired recklessly from cover, their rounds hitting far above their targets.
“No!” he screamed as he slammed against the steering wheel. “They’ve got people in the hangar now!” He clenched his jaw so tightly that he could feel his molars crack. “Use the flash bangs! Disorient them!”
Before his men could react, the building began to vibrate and the middle of the hangar floor actually split in half and lifted up and away. A large black pickup with a machine gun in the back rose from the floor like a phoenix from the ashes. From his vantage point, Sheridan could see two very large men inside the vehicle as it rose higher into the hangar. “Take them out! Don’t let them get away!”
The weapon in the back of the truck came to life and began moving, targeting individuals. Short bursts from the .30 caliber machine gun shredded flesh and bone, sending sprays of blood against the metal barricades that they used to protect themselves from the small arms of the men on the other side of the hangar. Sheridan felt his guts tighten into a knot as he watched his troops being cut down before his eyes.
“Get out of there! Get out now! Shift if you have to, but get out!” His voice screamed so loudly into the coms that he was hoarse before he was done.
He watched as the squad members, emboldened by the reinforcement of the assault vehicle, began pouring from their own hiding places and advancing on his men. Man after man shifted and made for an exit. One jumped onto the hood of the large black truck and tried to tackle the motorized machine gun. He wrapped his large, hair-covered arms over the hot barrel and lifted, unable to render it from the mount in the back. The operator inside the vehicle moved the weapon again, trying to shake the new attacker off. The wolf braced one arm against the weapon’s base, another against the barrel, and pushed with all of his might, actually bending the barrel. The wolf then leapt from the back of the truck and made for the large double doors and the parking lot Sheridan was now backing away from.
When Little John aimed the crosshairs of the targeting screen on a fleeing wolf and pulled the trigger on the joystick, the machine gun in the back of the truck destroyed itself. Bullets jammed in the barrel and the back-pressure destroyed the receiver. He slumped his shoulders and turned to Spalding. “I think I broke it.”
“I think the wolf broke it,” Spalding corrected.
“Maybe we could run them down? Put a wolf-shaped splatter on the front bumper?” John offered.
Spanky shook his head. “Unless Doc put a silver bumper on this thing, it wouldn’t do much good.”
The two men watched as their ground forces advanced, trying to take out as many of the fleeing wolves as they could. Those who were wounded or dying fought to the bitter end. Some dragged useless rear legs as they tried to bite or tear into the humans they had been sent to destroy.
Tufo pushed
his way to the front of the crowd, putting silver bullets into the heads of anything he ran across. “Spread out. Make sure they’re all truly dead.”
He came across a pair of bloody wolves, their mangled bodies still smoking. He placed the barrel of his pistol to the head of one and squeezed the trigger. As he lifted the pistol to put down the other wolf for good, he noticed the slide locked back. He ejected his magazine and slid another home, racking a round as he did so. He straightened his arm, taking aim on the second wolf when a large hairy arm grasped his wrist and lifted the weapon up and away the bullet ricocheting off the girders.
“Live one!” Mark yelled as he struggled to pull his second pistol. The wolf pulled him down to face level, the smell of blood and bodily fluids strong as it growled directly into his face. Spittle mixed with blood splattered his face as he tried to wrestle his second pistol from its holster.
The wolf rolled to the side, taking him with it and pinning him underneath its massive body. Mark struggled with his pinned arm, but it was like trying to pull an appendage from a vice. He could feel the bones of his wrist being crushed as the wolf stretched his arm further away. He distinctly heard the clatter of his FiveseveN hitting the concrete floor of the hangar as the beast loomed over him. Rounds exploded over and around him and he heard someone scream to “Hold fire!” and “Don’t hit the XO!”
Tufo tried to get a knee up and between the beast and himself, but it sunk into the ruined remains of the beast’s abdomen. He felt the hot blood of the monster soaking into his uniform pants and down his thigh as he pushed harder to lift the creature from his body. “Get off me, you son of a bitch!”
The beast roared one long loud scream in his face, blood and spittle flying into his eyes and nose before it dragged a clawed hand across his torso from neck to navel.
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