Keegan pointed to the giant. “Look!”
Undaunted by his frozen state, the shapeshifter was moving. The ice was cracking and breaking. A shower of ice shards suddenly exploded and the giant’s right arm was free.
Keegan was right, it was time to run.
***
Ketzkahtel was getting tired of waiting. But he wasn’t so stupid as to enter the building. Here, on the roof, with its wide open helipad, he could maintain his dragon form. It was his most powerful form, especially now, charged with the lifeforce of all the humans he and his brother had slain on their way to Florida.
And, if things got too bad, he could fly away.
Ketzkahtel briefly wondered if the humans had given up on him.
A chime sounded and the doors to the west freight elevator opened.
Gunfire erupted from the door, small handgun rounds slamming into Ketzkahtel. They weren’t even penetrating the thick bone of his head or his scales.
Atlas, Victor and Jimmy ran out of the elevator. Victor and Jimmy broke to the right and left, firing at the dragon with handguns, while Atlas charged straight ahead, his axe held ready.
Ketzkahtel was relieved. The one known as Antaean was nowhere to be seen. Just more of the stone soldiers like he’d killed in Arizona.
Ketzkahtel unleashed a stream of fire at the charging one. Just before the flames engulfed the stone man, Ketzkahtel realized he had faced the soldier before. He was the one identified in the telepath Echo’s memories as Atlas. That he’d killed in Arizona. Somehow, the stone soldier had been resurrected.
Atlas leapt from the streaming fire and slammed his axe down on the dragon’s snout. His clothes were burning, but the stone soldier was otherwise completely unaffected. Stone did not burn.
The blade of the axe hit Ketzkahtel’s snout with tremendous strength, slicing through flesh and bone. It would have punched through his lower jaw, out his chin as well, if the handle hadn’t snapped upon impact.
The dragon lunged forward, letting his stream of flame die out. He ducked his injured head and rammed into the charging soldier. Stone and scales crushed against each other.
With considerably more mass then Atlas, the dragon prevailed. The stone soldier was lifted off his feet and thrown violently backwards, hurtling through the air and crashing back into the elevator.
Ketzkahtel was pleased with himself, feeling his flesh healing as the axe head in his snout fell out. Then he remembered there were two more stone soldiers.
At about that time, Jimmy and Victor leapt at the dragon from the sides, each grabbing a wing.
***
Colonel Kenslir was wiping the blade of a Bowie knife off on his pant leg with one hand. In his other hand he held Medusa’s head, once again severed from her body.
The Colonel quickly found the box the head had resided in for so many years and put it away. Then he set the box down and sprinted for the door.
The giant had a good start on Kenslir, but the building was in lock down. Doors and even elevator shafts were now sealed. As powerful as the giant was, he’d need a lot of luck and a lot of brute force to make it to the surface now.
Kenslir sprinted down the long corridor, back toward the freight elevator. He could see both doors were bent and twisted, pulled out of track and revealing the open shaft. The giant had made it past the first obstacle.
Kenslir leapt into the shaft and turned around, looking up. Sure enough, on the next floor up, the doors were again ripped out of track. The giant was smart. He had headed for the boat dock.
Kenslir crouched a little, then sprang upwards, easily making the twenty-foot vertical jump. He immediately sprinted down the sub-level two hallway, headed south down a long corridor. Ahead, he saw another set of security doors, again ripped out of place, barely hanging from their hinges.
The giant was definitely leaving him a trail to follow.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Ketzkahtel was furious now. The two new stone soldiers had just torn off his dragon wings with their stone hands. The soldiers had tremendous strength, far greater than the shapeshifter had realized. It would take him several minutes to grow those wings back.
Ketzkahtel turned in place, using his long body to bowl the stone men over. He knew from the memories he had telepathically seen in Dr. Parker’s mind the young men had only recently been transformed and would have just today begun training to use their new bodies of stone. That would work in Ketzkahtel’s advantage.
Before the shapeshifter could gloat anymore, Atlas leapt onto his neck. The stone soldier wrapped his arms around the dragon’s head, and squeezed with his inhuman strength. Bone began to creak under the strain.
Ketzkahtel twisted and thrashed, dropping onto his side and trying to roll over. He clawed at the stone soldier with his front claws, but only tore burnt clothing. The man of stone had an unbreakable grip on his head.
Ketzkahtel’s thrashing then stopped—Victor and Jimmy had charged in and each grabbed a front leg. They twisted and pulled on the legs, clamping down with their own unbreakable grips.
The shapeshifter was pinned by the trio of stone men.
Jimmy wanted to kill the dragon, but he had no idea how to do it. He dared not release his grip. The creature was immensely powerful, futilely straining against him. Thankfully, his stone body was more powerful and he maintained his hold.
Jimmy looked across at Victor. The postcog looked as though he were terrified—which satisfied Jimmy immensely. Maybe Victor would come in handy if they ever had to fight a bunch of Legos.
“What now?” Victor asked, panicked. He looked back and forth between Atlas and Jimmy. “Did we bring rope or something?”
***
Josie and Keegan were warmed up now. Out of the water, they were running as fast as they could on their bare feet. The lights in the basement were dimmed but not out. They could just see where they were going as they ran away from the dock.
Finally, they rounded a corner and came to the passenger elevator lobby. Keegan stabbed at the buttons while Josie tried the door to the stairwell.
The light wasn’t responding on the elevator call button. Keegan turned to see if Josie was having any better luck.
“It’s locked,” Josie said, leaning against the door. She couldn’t budge the handle.
Keegan looked around. Another set of double doors were by the elevators, leading somewhere east. She ran to the doors and tried to open them. They wouldn’t budge either. “Now what?”
Josie was about to respond when the women heard the sound of someone running, approaching them quickly. Very quickly. They backed into the corner, looking around desperately for some kind of weapon.
Colonel Kenslir sprang from around the corner. He had a pistol in each hand.
“Oh, thank God,” Keegan said, she ran forward and grabbed the Colonel, hugging him tightly.
Kenslir had a look of utter horror on his face and pushed back from Keegan. His cheeks were slightly flushed, as if he were embarrassed. Josie never thought she’d see that.
“Where’s the giant?” Kenslir asked.
“At the boat dock,” Keegan said. “Winters froze him and we got away.”
“What are you still doing down here?”
“The doors are locked and the elevators are out,” Josie explained. She was getting that feeling again. Something was very wrong.
Kenslir stepped over to the stairwell and kicked at the security door. The steel deadbolt shattered under the kick and the door caved in a little as it was violently flung open.
“The Tower’s under attack. Get to the first floor and find security.”
“Where’s Jimmy?” Josie asked.
“He’s on the roof, with Victor and Atlas—the dragon shapeshifter’s up there.”
“We’ve got to get up there!” Keegan said.
Kenslir looked her up and down again. “To do what? You aren’t even armed.”
“We’ve got to try, Colonel,” Josie pleaded.
Ke
nslir handed a pistol to each woman. “Don’t get yourselves killed.” Then he turned and ran down the hall towards the boat dock.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Ketzkahtel had been held immobile for several minutes, weighing his options. Even if he regrew his wings, he couldn’t break free of the stone men’s grip. He had tried fire, but he couldn’t even turn his head as it was held firmly in place by the one called Atlas.
Worse, he knew the stone soldiers never tired. They could hold him like this for hours, days, even weeks. And surely the one called Antaean would get here long before that.
Ketzkahtel could only think of one thing. He shrank.
The dragon abruptly resumed the form of the telepath Billy Dyer, Echo. Naked, covered in water from the still-spraying roof sprinklers, it was just what he needed. He was able to slip free of the stone men’s unyielding grips.
As the stone men turned to face him, Ketzkahtel reached out with his mind and seized theirs.
All three stone soldiers froze in place, becoming true statues.
Ketzkahtel sighed in relief. He looked around the rooftop. There were still nearly a dozen security corpses. He might be able to draw enough power from their hearts to regrow his wings and escape.
Ketzkahtel walked away from the stone soldiers, circling wide around them. He could feel them raging in their minds against him, but he had an unbreakable telepathic grip. Billy Dyer, the telepath known as Echo, had been a powerful human.
Ketzkahtel had a sudden thought. He couldn’t defeat the stone soldiers in any of his forms, but perhaps they could defeat each other. He searched their minds.
There—in the recesses of the one called Jimmy’s mind. Just what he needed. Jealousy and hate.
Ketzkahtel sat down beside a dead security guard and manipulated Jimmy’s mind.
Jimmy and Victor began to move again. Toward each other. They slammed into each other in a flurry of stone fists.
The two stone men began to beat each other, savagely. Stone fist against stone jaw. Stone fist against stone chest. The blows produced deafening cracks.
After over a dozen punches, Ketzkahtel realized the stone soldiers couldn’t hurt each other by punching. He decided to try something new.
Jimmy and Victor now grappled with each other. Neither knew how to wrestle, but Ketzkahtel did. He controlled the stone men like puppets, having them grab and twist at each other, straining stone limbs with inhuman strength.
After several moments, the outcome was the same. Nothing.
The stone soldiers couldn’t hurt each other. They just weren’t powerful enough to overcome their own invincibility.
Ketzkahtel looked around the roof. He saw the edge of the tall building and was struck with a new idea.
Jimmy and Victor released their grip on each other, then turned, robot-like, and began walking toward Atlas. When they reached the stone soldier, they picked him up, one holding his feet, and the other gripping him under the arms. They lifted the stone soldier slowly and began walking toward the edge of the roof.
***
Kenslir had just rounded the corner, running down the last hallway to the underground boat dock, when he collided with Tezcahtlip.
The shapeshifter was again in his sabertooth form, running as fast as his four powerful legs could carry him. He was angry and determined to catch the women and consume them whole.
The two titans bounced off each other, flying apart. Each regained their footing with quick reflexes.
Kenslir balled his fists and prepared to leap at the sabertooth.
Tezcahtlip panicked. He could not survive many more of these fights. He had used up nearly half his reserves of stolen lifeforces.
As Kenslir leapt at him, the shapeshifter transformed and dove for the floor. He fell hard onto the cold tiles, having turned once more into the small Dr. Parker.
Kenslir had been aiming for the sabertooth’s back when he leapt. When the shapeshifter abruptly shrank he missed and smashed into the wall. Rebounding, he twisted and landed on his feet—in time to see Dr. Parker scrabbling away on her hands and knees, then turning back into the sabertooth.
The shapeshifter, in this feline form, was faster and more agile then Kenslir. It raced away, around the corner and down the hallway.
Kenslir sprinted after it, trying desperately to keep up.
When the sabertooth reached the area of the stairwell to the first floor, it turned right, instead of heading back to the freight elevator. It was headed for the first floor, and Kenslir had kicked open the security door that would have slowed or stopped it.
***
Keegan was the first to barrel out of the stairwell. She was glad it was unlocked after running up two flights of stairs.
The stairwell opened up into the middle of the building, between two large lobbies facing east and west. Between the lobbies a dozen men with semiautomatic rifles were in position, wearing body armor, helmets and assault gear.
“Freeze!” one of the security guards yelled as Keegan came running out of the stairwell. “Drop your weapon!”
Keegan slid to a halt, and Josie promptly ran into her.
The security team, six men on the right, six on the left bristled and put fingers on their triggers. “Drop your weapons, NOW!” the leader yelled.
Josie and Keegan obeyed, dropping the two pistols Kenslir had given them, and raising their hands.
Four guards, two from the left, two from the right, charged forward and roughly tackled the women, knocking them to the floor. Both women were rolled onto their chests and flex cuffs were looped around their wrists. They were then picked up and quickly carried away from the elevators, toward the west lobby that faced the main parking lot.
The guards shoved Keegan and Josie down on their knees next to a couch in the lobby. One of the four spoke quickly into his microphone.
“Control! We have two females in custody! No sign of the Colonel!”
Before anything else could be said, there came a crash from the parking lot west of the building. Less than twenty feet outside the glass doors there was a row of cars lined up next to the curb. One of the cars had exploded in a spray of glass and stone.
The shrapnel flew in all directions, including into the large floor-to-ceiling windows of the lobby. Glass went everywhere, shattered by a basketball-sized object. The gray debris bounced and rolled across the lobby, finally coming to a halt only a few feet from Josie and Keegan. It was a head. The stone head of Atlas.
“Oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god!” Josie said quickly, panicking. She was grateful it wasn’t Jimmy’s head—but if Atlas could be shattered so could her best friend.
The guards were recovering from the spray of glass all over the lobby, when something came out of the stairwell. Something big and orange and covered in fur. Tezcahtlip, in his sabertooth form.
The shapeshifter barreled into the four men on the left, sending them flying. The four guards near Josie and Keegan immediately opened fire, as did the four men across the elevators.
The volley of bullets chewed into the shapeshifter. But they were simple soft lead, meant for stopping people. Even though the rounds could penetrate his thick hide and tear his dense muscle, they couldn’t overcome Tezcahtlip’s healing power. His flesh closed up around the bullets, sealing wounds and repairing injuries.
The sabertooth turned his head, roaring at the men by Josie and Keegan. His eyes flashed yellow.
All four men stiffened, freezing in their tracks. Their skin turned gray and they fell over, turned to stone.
Tezcahtlip turned to the other four men in the lobby, and similarly unleashed his newly-acquired Medusa stare. Again, the men froze in their tracks then turned to stone.
The sabertooth growled in victory and looked at the women, then over at the four remaining guards east of the elevators. These guards dived for cover, looking away from the sabertooth.
Tezcahtlip turned back to the women. They were seated on the floor, their arms tied behind their backs, surr
ounded by hundreds of tiny pieces of glass. They were helpless. The sabertooth growled with anticipation and prepared to pounce.
Mark Kenslir slammed into the creature, feet first, in a flying sidekick. His three-hundred-plus pounds of super human muscle and bone struck Tezcahtlip like a freight train. The sabertooth’s ribs and spine cracked under the impact and the beast was lifted off its feet and sent hurtling sideways more than a dozen feet.
Kenslir didn’t pause. He pressed his attack, leaping at the sabertooth again and unleashing a barrage of deadly, lightning-quick punches. Keegan and Josie could hear bone breaking with every blow. The shapeshifter’s bones.
Keegan leaned up onto her knees and began scooting forward as quick as she could.
“What are you doing?” Josie asked.
The Colonel was still beating the downed sabertooth. The huge cat twisted and clawed, but Kenslir was faster, dodging its blows and raining down fist and elbow strikes almost too fast to see.
“Getting us out of here!”
Keegan ignored the shards of glass that cut at her knees and legs. Even if scars did ruin her perfect tan, it was worth it to stay alive. Scooting along, walking on her knees, she quickly reached one of the petrified security guards then turned around, sitting down on the floor beside him. A shard of glass cut into her bare buttocks as she did so, causing her grimace in pain.
Josie was baffled. Keegan had scurried across the floor on her knees, slicing her legs up in various places and for what? To hide behind one of the newly-petrified soldiers?
Keegan’s hands suddenly came free from behind her back. She was holding a small knife in one hand.
“Saw this on his belt,” Keegan said. She jumped up and ran over to Josie, ignoring the bits of glass that cut into the bottom of her feet.
The sabertooth had finally managed to twist around and kicked at Kenslir with both rear legs. The Colonel was lifted off the floor and thrown across the lobby, crashing into a wall.
Tezcahtlip rolled quickly onto to his feet, then changed into his hairy giant form. He looked over at Keegan and Josie—who’s wrists had just been freed from the plastic flexcuffs binding her. The giant then looked at Kenslir, back on his feet and headed for him.
Brothers in Stone (Stone Soldiers #2) Page 16
