Tezcahtlip was decided and sprinted off on his long legs, charging north, away from Keegan and Josie. He crashed into and through a large plate glass wall on the north side of the lobby, separating the lobby from a receiving office for the Tower. Tezcahtlip crashed through the office, knocking desks out of his way and smashing through a counter, then a large wall.
Plaster dust billowed out as he crashed through the solid wall and disappeared.
Kenslir was right behind him, leaping over debris and moving almost as fast.
Keegan picked up two assault rifles dropped by the petrified guards. She handed one to Josie, then dropped the magazine from her own. She knelt by a petrified guard and dug two fresh magazines from his ammo pouches.
“We’ve got to get to the roof!” Keegan said. She threw Josie a fresh mag and slammed one into her own rifle.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ketzkahtel was thrilled. It had worked brilliantly. Atlas was scattered in hundreds of pieces far below.
The shapeshifter started to have Jimmy and Victor walk toward the rooftop when he was struck by a new idea.
The two stone men couldn’t beat each other, but perhaps they could defeat their leader, Antaean. Surely he couldn’t harm them—even if he wanted to. Ketzkahtel could have his revenge and finally kill the Colonel. He was sure that by now his brother was safely out of the building. Which meant Antaean had to be on his way here.
Ketzkahtel smiled. This was a good plan. Now he just had to wait.
***
Tezcahtlip had once again pried open and entered the west freight elevator shaft. In his giant ape-like form, he was swinging and leaping upwards, towards the roof, using handholds he found on beams and power cables to climb the shaft quickly.
Kenslir briefly considered climbing himself. He could probably move almost as fast. But he had a better idea.
He ran over to the other freight elevator, to the east, and pressed the intercom switch on the wall beside it. “Control! Reactivate all elevators! And get them moving as fast as you can!”
The light immediately came on above the closed doors. Kenslir could hear the elevator rapidly approaching. In under a minute it was there.
Kenslir stepped in and stabbed at the twentieth-floor button. The elevator immediately sprang to action, rocketing upwards. The motors on the roof would probably need servicing after this, but Kenslir was just glad they had this emergency capacity.
He’d be on the roof in minutes. It would take the giant a little longer.
***
They were back in the stairwell now, several floors up. Josie was stunned by Keegan’s determination.
The petite blonde was bleeding from multiple cuts on her knees and shins and the soles of her feet. But she wouldn’t stop. She had her rifle in both hands and was limping up the stairs behind Josie as fast as she could.
Josie could tell it was tough on the Agent. The blonde clearly wasn’t use to this kind of running. Not that Josie was either. She’d run the stairs every day for a month, but that was with running shoes. Barefoot, and exhausted from the long, cold swim and walk back in the tunnel, she wondered if she had it in her to reach the roof, thirteen floors up.
Worse, she was sweating like crazy in her bodysuit. Keegan might look like a sweaty stripper with her band-aid-and-string microkini, but she was probably much cooler than Josie in the hot stairwell.
Just as they reached the seventh floor landing, the door to the stairwell opened.
“Josie!” PJ said, grinning widely. He was holding a bottle of cold beer in one hand, and was dressed in flip flops, Bermuda shorts and an ugly floral print shirt that was unbuttoned all the way.
Josie stopped and Keegan ran up beside her. “Who the hell is this?”
PJ’s eyes almost popped out of his head. He looked Keegan up and down her sweaty, microkini’d body. “Good Lord, I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
Keegan walked up to the telepath and shoved her rifle at him. He caught it with his left hand, then she snatched the beer from his right. Keegan threw back her head and drained the nearly full bottle in one long drink.
“Josie, who is your super-hot friend?!” PJ demanded. He was barely able to tear his eyes off Keegan to look at Josie. Then he noticed the handprint from Keegan’s earlier slap still on Josie’s cheek.
“Whoa! You girls been cat fighting? Awesome.”
Keegan handed the empty beer bottle to PJ and took back her rifle. She turned and started up the stairs. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Hey, wait up, sexy lady,” PJ said, staring at Keegan’s behind. It might have been a little scratched up and even cut in one place, but it was the best display of thong he’d seen in some time. Primarily because he was never allowed to leave the Tower. “We’re supposed to stay put when there’s a drill.”
“This isn’t a drill, PJ,” Josie said. “The building’s under attack. We’ve got to get to the roof.”
Josie started to follow Keegan, who was almost at the top of the stairs.
“Why are you taking the stairs?” PJ asked. He was sure he was in love.
Keegan and Josie both stopped on the stairs and turned back around.
“The elevators are out, you idiot,” Josie said.
“No they’re not,” PJ said. “Come look for yourself.”
Josie and Keegan looked at each other then hurried back down the stairs to the landing.
“You better not be pulling our leg,” Josie said.
“No way. Not unless you want me to. Look.” PJ opened the door wider, still standing half in, half out of the stairwell. Josie could see across to the elevators. The lights above the door were on.
“He’s right!” Josie said, then squeezed through the doorway. She might be sweating like a pig in the body suit, but at least it offered her some protection from PJ’s bare stomach as she was forced to slide against him to get by.
Keegan followed, rubbing against PJ as well. He thought he was going to faint when her large chest rubbed against him. “That’s some bikini, lady!”
Josie stabbed at the call button and was relieved to see the lights blinking above the door of the east elevator. The car was descending from level twenty. She and Keegan stood there quietly, gripping their rifles, waiting for the elevator.
“You know ladies,” PJ said, walking up behind them, “We could go to my place—it’s right down the hall. I’ve got plenty of beer, and maybe something for that ass of yours.”
Keegan turned around and faced PJ, then struck him between the legs with the stock of her rifle. He dropped like a sack to the floor.
“I meant for your cut,” he groaned, holding his groin with both hands.
The elevator finally arrived and the doors opened. Josie and Keegan stepped in quickly, Keegan stabbing at the button for the twentieth floor.
PJ somehow managed to pick himself up and stagger over to the door. “C’mon, ladies don’t be like that.” He lurched into the elevator just before the doors clothes, still holding his groin with both hands.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Ketzkahtel was bored. He reached over to the pile of bodies next to him, again punching into a chest and pulling out a heart. He began to chew on it. There was hardly any lifeforce left in the dead organ. Still, Ketzkahtel was used to the taste.
Victor and Jimmy were standing side by side, about twenty feet south of the freight elevators. Waiting, with the mist from all the rooftop extinguishers still falling on them.
Ketzkahtel decided he’d have some fun again while he waited.
Jimmy and Victor turned to each other and began to trade punches once more.
***
Despite its abnormal speed, the elevator wasn’t rising fast enough for Josie and Keegan. In the tight confines, they were being overwhelmed by the smell of PJ’s aftershave and all the beer on his breath. Clearly, the creepy telepath was drunk.
“So, you new here?” PJ asked Keegan. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her since they got in the elevator.
Or rather, off her chest. He was mesmerized, staring at the tiny strips of purple cloth held in place by clear plastic straps.
It was the first time in her life Keegan had ever felt self-conscious about what she was wearing, or rather, wasn’t wearing. “My eyes are up here, sport.”
“I’m not looking at your eyes,” PJ said, leering at Keegan.
Josie felt bad for Keegan. She also felt a little guilty at being relieved the pervert telepath wasn’t undressing her with his eyes for once.
“PJ, did you hear me?” Josie asked. “The building is under attack. The shapeshifters are here. Both of them.”
“Yeah, un-hunh,” PJ said, only half-listening. He leaned in close to Keegan and smelled her hair. “I’m PJ, by the way.”
Keegan rolled her eyes and looked straight ahead. This settled it. No more microkinis. “Yeah, I heard.”
PJ raised his eyebrows. “I’m a telepath. I can read people’s minds by touching them. Can I read yours?”
“Oh, good grief,” Josie said. She grabbed PJ by the shoulder and spun him around to face her. “The shapeshifters are here. They’ve killed most of security, and Atlas!”
“Relax my little desert flower,” PJ said. He looked Josie up and down. The form fitting bodysuit showed off her athletic curves. But they weren’t as spectacular as the mostly-naked blonde’s. He started to turn back around.
Josie reached out and slapped her hand on PJ’s chest. The psychic connection was immediate.
Josie pulled her hand back quickly and saw the color was draining from PJ’s face. “The shapeshifters are here?”
“That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you,” Josie said.
***
Mark Kenslir was on the upper HVAC level now. It was easy moving stealthily surrounded by all the noise of the blowers and coolers for the building. He crept over to the west freight elevator shaft and grabbed at the doors. He pulled them open slowly.
From several floors below, he could hear the sound of the shapeshifter climbing. It had taken the monster some time to travel all the way up. Even with his shapeshifting, he had to be getting tired.
Kenslir stepped back from the open doors and melted into the shadows.
Finally, Tezcahtlip reached the twentieth floor. He was sweating under all his thick fur. He could see the doors were open on this level, but closed above.
In Dr. Parker’s memories, he could see that there was a flight of stairs that could take him to the roof. That would be a lot easier than prying open the heavy duty rooftop doors. Now he just had to hope Ketzkahtel was still around.
Tezcahtlip swung out from the shaft, planting his feet firmly on the concrete floor. The nine foot tall giant didn’t feel so claustrophobic on this level with its high ceilings and network of pipes and ductwork. He started walking toward the stairwell door.
Colonel Kenslir sprang from the shadows, landing on the giant’s back and wrapping his legs around Tezcahtlip’s waist. Then he began plunging his twin Bowie knives into the giant’s back. Repeatedly.
Tezcahtlip screamed out at the pain, and began whirling around in place, trying to reach up and back to dislodge his attacker. The knives flashed with inhuman speed, plunging into and out of Tezcahtlip’s back and shoulders over and over. The giant’s flesh was being slashed to pulp.
Kenslir severed the giant’s spinal column several times, working up to the base of the neck. He thrust the blades in and out, grinding against bone.
Tezcahtlip staggered backward, smashing Kenslir into a wall as his healing powers struggled to reform his tissue as the knives plunged into him repeatedly. The giant thrashed and tried to pull the legs wrapped around his waist free.
Kenslir now began plunging the knives down into the giants chest, over and over. He could feel ribs severing with each blow. He punctured the lungs repeatedly, then worked his way up to the neck.
Tezcahtlip dropped forward, onto his knees and palms. The wounds were coming faster than he could heal. He started his transformation into the sabertooth once more.
Kenslir could feel the giant’s body swell under him. He shifted and plunged the knives into the sides of the giant’s neck, then pulled with all his might.
Tezcahtlip’s hands and feet had just formed into cat’s paws. His face was elongating and his teeth were stretching, forming the sabertooth’s massive fangs. Then his transforming head was cut off.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The elevator doors finally opened up, revealing the upper HVAC level of the building. Josie, Keegan and PJ spilled out, running to the right and turning north. The stairs to the roof were a good seventy feet away, through the maze of pipes and duct work.
They all skidded to a halt when they came within sight of the two freight elevators.
The west elevator doors were open, revealing an empty shaft. The east elevator doors were also open, revealing an empty car. Between them was the open door to the stairwell that led to the roof.
In front of that stairwell was Colonel Kenslir, standing over the headless body of the red-haired giant. The giant’s body was flipped over on its back, and Kenslir had cut open the creature’s chest. He was prying apart the rib cage with his bare hands. To the side, the giant’s head, looking very feline, was laying on the floor, unblinking eyes taking it all in.
“Oh, my God!” Josie exclaimed. She thought she might throw up at the sight of all the blood. She really needed to work on her squeamishness.
Kenslir looked up, surprised.
“What are you-“ Kenslir started to ask.
He was interrupted by the giant, his ribcage still ripped open, suddenly reaching up and grabbing Kenslir around the throat with one hand, and by the groin with the other. The headless giant moved quickly, sitting up and hurling the Colonel across the room—head first, straight through the open doors of the west elevator shaft.
Josie, Keegan and PJ could hear the banging noises as the Colonel fell down the shaft, striking the walls on the way.
The giant turned around slowly then dropped to its hands and knees. Its limbs again began to thicken, and the headless neck began to swell—bone and blood rapidly forming a new head. The head of a sabertooth.
“Go!” Keegan yelled. She opened fire with her rifle as she ran sideways toward the stairwell door.
***
Something was wrong, Ketzkahtel could feel it. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew it was bad.
Jimmy and Victor were still beating each other, ineffectually. And the shapeshifter was almost out of hearts.
Then he heard the sound of automatic weapons fire, coming from the stairwell. He stood up, trying to peer around the two stone men still fighting.
Keegan was the first onto the roof, running out of the stairwell with Josie and PJ behind her. They all three skidded to a halt when they saw Victor and Jimmy fighting in the heavy downpour of water from all the rooftop sprinklers.
“Victor?” Keegan asked, surprised.
Josie immediately recognized the telepath Echo. She raised her rifle to her shoulder and fired. All the time she’d been spending on the range paid off. She put three rounds into the shapeshifter’s head.
Victor and Jimmy stopped fighting and dropped to their knees as Echo’s body pitched backwards, his forehead and brains blow out.
Josie and Keegan ran forward to the stone men.
“PJ! Stop the shapeshifter!” Josie yelled, as she tried to help Jimmy to his feet.
PJ took a step forward, then stopped. The shapeshifter’s body was convulsing. No, swelling. It was turning red and stretching out. Turning into a dragon once more.
PJ was uncertain what to do. Then something hit him from behind. The sabertooth.
Tezcahtlip bounded out of the stairwell and slammed into PJ like a stampeding bull. The impact sent the telepath flying. The shapeshifter continued on.
Victor, just standing, holding onto Agent Keegan, saw the charging cat coming up behind her. He shoved Keegan aside. Just in time.
The sa
bertooth ducked its head and rammed into the stone soldier at full speed, propelling him backwards. Victor tried to catch himself, but stumbled backwards several feet. Just as he caught himself, a large, red tale slammed into him from the side.
The impact from the tree-like tail lifted Victor off his feet and sent him flying. He soared through the air, crashing down heavily. He briefly felt the surface of the rooftop, then nothing. He had rolled off the eastern side of the roof.
“Victor!” Pam Keegan screamed. She was picking herself up off the wet surface of the roof.
Tezcahtlip skidded to a stop, ignoring the microkini woman. He turned to face Jimmy, who had just gained his footing. Josie was standing behind him, the stone man shielding her with his body.
Tezcahtlip opened his mouth and roared loudly.
To Jimmy’s right, the dragon had turned back around after flinging Victor off the roof. It too opened its jaws and roared as it began to walk toward them. Josie and Jimmy began backing up toward the western edge of the roof.
“Hey, shitheads,” Colonel Kenslir called out. “You rotten bastards forget about me?”
The sabertooth and the dragon turned away from Jimmy and Josie, looking back toward the elevators and the stairwell doors to the north. Colonel Kenslir was there, his black fatigue shirt ripped in multiple places.
Kenslir reached down to his belt and unclipped the buckle, letting his empty holsters drop. Then he shrugged off the harness holding up his empty Bowie knife sheaths. With little effort, he reached up and pulled off the tattered remains of his fatigue shirt and the torn t-shirt beneath. He stood there bare chested, facing the twin shapeshifters.
“C’mon, you sons of bitches. Fight me like men.”
Tezcahtlip and Ketzkahtel looked at each other quickly, then back at Kenslir. Pam Keegan got to her feet and ran between them while they were distracted, over to Jimmy and Josie.
Brothers in Stone (Stone Soldiers #2) Page 17
