Ann Marie's Asylum (Master and Apprentice Book 1)

by Christopher Rankin

  “It’s OK,” Dade told the robot, who immediately let up its guard. “Let her through.”

  “I remember everything” Ivy said. “I remember our other life. I’m never going to forget.” She reached to help him with his wound. “Oh my God,” she said as his wound seemed to be spilling over. “What have I done.”

  With the gas almost totally clear from the restaurant, Ann Marie ran inside. She saw Dade’s wound and became frantic. “Dade! Dade! I’ll bring in a helicopter!” she shouted, reaching for her phone. “Can you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up?”

  “Thank you both for your concern,” he said, wincing from the pain, “but I have my own health insurance policy.” He glanced over to the DeathStalker, who somehow seemed to read his mind.

  Little baby metal scorpions poured from the DeathStalker’s back and swarmed Dade’s wound. The little creatures used their claws and lasers to remove the fork and cauterize the wound. After a few minutes, the bleeding stopped and Dade tried to get to his feet.

  “Bernard,” he said, sounding hoarse and nearly growling.

  “He’s going to the border,” Ivy told him. “His next business is in Mexico.”

  “I don’t think he’s gonna make it.”

  Suddenly Ivy was overcome by a memory. It seemed like a mental lightning strike. She nearly fell to her knees as a series of thoughts and memories came hurtling to the surface. She could feel Bernard’s hands invading her body. She remembered her foster homes, every abusive one of them.

  “He’s taken everything from me. Everything from us,” she said to him.

  “I know,” said Dade, lowering his head. “That’s why his time has come.”

  “I’m the chief executive officer of the Asylum Corporation,” Ivy remarked. She suddenly sounded cold and businesslike. “I have evidence that Bernard Mengel aided terrorists and allowed Chinese hackers into the Asylum computer system. I’ll make sure you have all the corporation’s resources. He’s not going to get away with what he’s done.”

  “It’s not just what he’s done,” Dade said. “It’s what he’s going to do.” He pressed his palm to the wound on his belly to test its tenderness. It made him wince but his expression still seemed carved out of granite.

  “I’m going with you,” announced Ann Marie.

  “Me too,” said Ivy.

  “No way,” Dade told them both. “There is no way that bastard is using one more person I care about against me.” He told Ivy, “You’re recovering.” To Ann Marie, he said, “I’m going to need your help with one of my machines. We’re going to need the Devil’s Breath prototype.”

  ...

  Bernard sat in the back of his black limousine as it sketched a worn and lonely path down a desert road to the border. The driver, a former special forces operative with bulging muscles and neck to match, hadn’t said a word during the journey. Their road couldn’t be found on any publicly available map because the military used it for “international exercises” with Mexico. The route was only known by a few high-level military contractors and government people.

  While the man drove, Bernard stared with longing at a photograph of young Ivy Cavatica, age eight. The old man looked as though he could cry at any moment.

  “Fifty miles to Mexico,” the driver said as he lowered the glass that separated the back compartment. “Then you’re on your own.”

  “You don’t need to remind me of the deal that I came up with,” Bernard told the man. “Just drive the car to the border. I think you seem up to the intellectual challenge.” He started to raise the glass pane that separated them, saying, “Morons.”

  When the tinted glass was all the way up and Bernard was alone, he took out the picture of Ivy and ran his fingers over the surface. From behind the photograph, he folded out a similar one of young Dade Harkenrider. He looked around the same age as Ivy.

  The driver sent the divider down again. He told Bernard, “Sorry to interrupt again, sir.”

  “Not as sorry as you’re going to be.”

  “Sir, there’s something up ahead, something in the road.”

  Up ahead, something was indeed flickering on the horizon. It didn’t have features of a vehicle or a person. It was just a dark mirage, a rippling amorphous blob coming toward them down the road.

  “Sir, we’re getting a message,” the driver told Bernard. “It’s coming through on every station, analog and digital.”

  A cold-sounding female computer voice began to play into the limousine. “This vehicle has been targeted for drone strike. The Asylum Corporation and its affiliates have been granted permission by the United States government to destroy this vehicle and terminate all life forms inside. The Asylum Corporation accepts no responsibility for human or computer error, misidentification of target, or any collateral damage as a result of this drone mission. The Asylum Corporation appreciates your cooperation and your country appreciates your commitment to freedom.”

  “I’m gonna pull over,” the driver said.

  “Moron!” shouted Bernard. He reached into the drivers compartment and grabbed the driver by the shoulder. Bernard’s touch seemed to somehow paralyze the man. Unable to control his movements, the driver stomped on the accelerator and the limo sped toward the border. Bernard remarked, “This limo is armored better than the president’s.”

  Suddenly, Bernard noticed something just outside the car. It was running alongside of them. The DeathStalker, his former guard, was keeping pace with limousine. It had a shiny, freshly-polished metal exoskeleton and it looked at Bernard as if to say, remember me.

  The DeathStalker flashed her red eyes and signaled to the babies on her back to get to work. They poured off her back and tore up the desert on their way to the limo. The mini DeathStalkers swarmed the vehicle and began to tear at the outside with their claws and lasers.

  “Little bastards won’t be able to get in here,” Bernard said. “Not with this armor.”

  At the same time, a couple of miles ahead of the limo, Dade Harkenrider stopped Asylum One in the middle of the desert road and stepped out. He could just begin to see Bernard Mengel’s limo on the wavy horizon. From the back of the truck, he pulled out two large, black plastic trunks.

  Both boxes read: PROJECT DEVIL’S BREATH, TOP SECRET, EYES ONLY.

  From the first box, Dade pulled out something that looked like a satellite dish about as large as a punchbowl. He set it on a tripod in the middle of the road. The second box contained electronics and power supply. When he had them connected, the dish was pointed at the oncoming limousine.

  Dade raised his arm into the air like a gladiator and shouted into the desert. “DeathStalkers!” He screamed. “Go to ground!”

  Immediately, Bernard saw the metal insects drop from the limo and crawl into the desert. All the drones, including the mother DeathStalker, began to vibrate their legs and dig themselves into the ground. Within a few seconds, the DeathStalkers had all burrowed into the sand.

  Dade lifted the protective plastic cover to the weapon’s trigger. He pushed the red button and started to walk toward Asylum One. As he walked, a high-pitched tone like the warm up on an old camera flash climbed in volume until it seemed to fill the entire desert. Five seconds started to click down on the weapon’s control panel. Dade got into Asylum One and shut the door.

  Two...One

  A bright white light started in the back of the satellite dish. There was a sound like high-pitched rolling thunder. The light suddenly collapsed on itself like a crashing tsunami. It created an explosion. A hellfire of desert air hurtled toward Bernard’s limo. It blew entire boulders away so fast that they looked like twigs in a hurricane.

  When it got to Bernard’s limo, the wave immediately separated the hood and turned everything in the engine compartment to glitter. The driver’s body became what looked like a jello mold, then liquid, then a foul-smelling steam that slapped Bernard in the face. The entire vehicle disassembled down to small shards. Ev
en the tires melted under the force of the pressure wave.

  Bernard, along with a considerable amount of debris, slid to a stop right in front of Dade.

  Bernard’s clothes were nearly ripped to shreds but his body didn’t have so much as a scratch. His hair was barely out of place. “New weapon?” He asked Dade as he got to his feet.

  “Yup.”

  Bernard smiled in his most charming way. “Well, that really was quite a surprise,” he said nearly laughing. “I bet the army is gonna pay big for that one.” He took a few steps forward and stopped. “You took Ivy from me,” he said. “I can already feel our bond fading away. You didn’t have to do that to me. Everything I’ve done to you served a purpose. That was just plain mean.”

  “It’s the end, old man,” Dade said as he faced him down like a gunslinger. “You better be prepared for what you’re gonna find on the other side.”

  “You’re injured,” Bernard said as he scanned Dade’s midsection. “I’m not sure coming after me now was the smartest thing.” The old man started to circle him. “But I bet you couldn’t help yourself.”

  “Are you ready, Bernard?”

  “Am I ready for death by Dr. Death?” He asked himself like he had just discovered an interesting philosophical inquiry. “Since I’m standing across from a more powerful sorcerer bent on my destruction, I guess I should prepare myself for a warrior’s end. Because I’m in the very last moments of my wicked life, may I have just a few more words with my former apprentice?”

  “I suppose.”

  “I’ve discovered something,” Bernard started to explain like he couldn’t contain the news any longer. “There are very few people on this Earth that can appreciate what it is and I want to share it with the great Dade Harkenrider. We are colleagues in the same field after all.”

  “You want to talk shop with me?”

  “Indeed, indeed,” Bernard bubbled. “You think your little float tank is getting you to the far edges. Boy, you ain’t seen nothing.” He could tell that Dade was interested and had momentarily set aside the plan to attack. Bernard went on, “You can’t even conceive of this frontier. I’ve been working with a shaman in Mexico. I have to say he is a bit of a nasty sort, but he is a master of a very interesting brand of black magic.” Bernard smiled at his next thought, saying, “Savages. They have no idea about our scientific approaches to things. I think I’m going to kill him after we’re finished. He really annoys me come to think of it. This leads me to a question. I’ve been wondering about something and I wanted to inquire from a master of your calibre.”

  “Go ahead.”

  Bernard asked, “Do you think it would benefit my powers at all to eat his testicles?”

  Before Dade could answer, an electric whiplash cracked across the desert. Bernard had teleported and was standing right behind him. The old man poked and grabbed at his stomach wound, shouting, “Injured! You think you can beat Bernard Mengel injured!” The attack was working and he took Dade by the throat. “Age hasn’t slowed me down as much as you think,” he snarled. He tore Dade’s stomach cut open and blood began to drench his shirt.

  Holding him by the throat with one hand, Bernard pulled something from his tattered front jacket pocket with the other. A syringe filled with a murky black syrup was dangling at Dade’s neck. “You don’t have to thank me for this,” Bernard joked.

  Before he could sink the needle, a flash of green light blinded Bernard. The beam sent the old man back and he dropped the syringe. He reached for his eyes, trying to regain his sight.

  The mother DeathStalker had just hit Bernard in the face with a laser blast. It was standing guard in front of Dade, who was now on the ground. The platinum-coated electric insect looked ready to strike. All the tools and weapons on its body were spitting sparks and rattling like maracas. It faced Bernard down with a clear look of challenge.

  The old man’s eyes were still watering from the laser blast. He said to the DeathStalker, “Back from your acidy grave, you electromechanical rodent.” Bernard took a step toward Dade, who was struggling to get up. The drone kept him back. “My goodness,” he told Dade, “how proud you must be of your little monster. It’s protecting its master.”

  Bernard circled Dade’s bleeding body while the drone tracked his every muscle twitch. The old man seemed to be searching for some vulnerability in the technological armor. He came across the black syringe sitting on the road. He picked it up and dangled it in the air.

  “I was just trying to share an important discovery with a colleague,” Bernard joked. “Sorry if I was a little aggressive. I didn’t mean anything by it. Besides, I brought you this because I knew you would be one of the only people who would understand. We’re scientists, Dade. Let’s not let our petty bickering set back the entire world.”

  “DeathStalker!” Dade tried to shout. The pain in his abdomen twisted it to more of a groan. “Attack. Attack. Kill that bastard with everything you have. I command you to attack.”

  The drone just looked at Dade and ignored his order.

  “How about that,” Bernard remarked to him. “Seems your little beasties don’t even listen to you. It’s very curious though. It seems to me that its computer has determined that protecting you outweighs its very purpose in life. That’s love, I guess. Some killer you invented.”

  Dade gave another order to attack but it was disregarded by the DeathStalker. It continued to stand guard in front of its injured creator.

  “This has been most entertaining,” Bernard said. “But I must get rambling.” He held up the black syringe and stared and the billowing black cloud of liquid inside. “Do you see that? It’s truly alive.” Then he carefully set the needle on the pavement in front of the DeathStalker. “I’ll leave this with you,” he said with a venomous smile. “I know you won’t disappoint me.”

  Then the old man headed down the road toward Mexico. His walk was so strong, swift and surefooted that it seemed superhuman. Almost like an ostrich, his legs bounded and contracted, propelling him away faster than a champion sprinter. The force of the movements shredded the remaining bits of fabric that had been his clothing. Then Bernard faded into the desert horizon.

  With the DeathStalker clicking, beeping and buzzing, Dade pulled himself up from the pavement. He went over to the black syringe. The black syrup jumped and sloshed around in the glass tube. When he picked it up, the stuff started to vibrate like the horn on a speaker. It seemed to be responding to his touch.

  The DeathStalker was staring at him. He told it, “Gather up your babies. We’re headed back to the lab.”

  ...

  The Sheriff had arranged for a makeshift hospital room to be created in one of the cleanroom laboratories on the fourth floor. In there, Lori Bandini and Ivy Cavatica were recovering from Bernard Mengel’s chemicals. Ivy had intravenous lines hooked up to both of her arms. She looked to be in a deep, comfortable sleep. Her expression looked like she was untroubled and perfectly at home. There was even a glimmer of a smile, like she was having the most pleasurable dream.

  Lori Bandini, however, was sitting up in her bed, wide awake. Her face had taken on a frightened, traumatized quality. With her mouth limp, she just stared blankly at the laboratory wall like something horrible was scorched into her retina.

  Ann Marie walked in to check on her and noticed right away she was awake. “I’m so happy you’re up,” she said, taking her mom’s side at the bed. “I’ve been waiting to talk to you. You’ve been out for days.”

  “Can you put me back to sleep?”

  “No...I...” Ann Marie said, stumbling. “I don’t understand, mom. Are you OK?”

  “No,” Lori answered, coldly. “Should I be? I’m starting to remember some of what happened and I wish I’d forget. Bernard. That awful monster. I don’t think he’s human.” She stopped and looked at her daughter like she had something to tell her. “Why does this happen to me? What is it about me? Why do I always bring the monsters?”

/>   “It isn’t you, mom. It isn’t your fault. Bernard was after me and Dade.”

  “I know,” Lori said, like that made it hurt more. “That’s the way it seems.” She pointed over to Ivy, who looked to still be in dream heaven. “Skinny over there is dreaming about that boss of yours.”

  Ann Marie was revolted at the idea for some reason. She said, “I don’t know why she would. What makes you say that?”

  “She keeps mumbling his name. Dade. Dade. Seems pretty happy about it too. I wish I could have a dream like the one she’s having. I met him, you know.”

  “Who?”

  A smirk moved into the vacant space on Lori’s face. She looked at her daughter like she knew one of her secrets. “Stop it,” she said. “You know who.”

  “So. You met him. No big deal.”

  “I’m just saying,” Lori went on. “He and the Sheriff have been checking in on me. Been taking good care of me, giving me some kind of antidote.” Her smile got wider. “When I woke up to those sunglasses and saw the man behind them, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”

  “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

  “It’s you, baby girl. Just you being here is healing me.” Lori told her to come closer so she could whisper something to her. “You don’t have to worry about me moving into your territory. I’m your mother. We have loyalty. But Skinny over there,” she said, pointing to sleeping Ivy. “I’d watch out for her.”

  “I’d argue with you the way I usually do,” Ann Marie said. “But you’re recovering from something horrible and you need to get your strength back. Your raving mad talk gets to go unchallenged.”

  “I knew it was my lucky day.”

  Ann Marie took on a more serious tone. “I’ve been thinking,” she said. “I haven’t been very fair to you.”

  “What do you mean?” Asked Lori. She looked surprised.

  “You’re a good mom,” Ann Marie said. “A really good mom. I saw something that gave me some perspective and I think I’ve been way too hard on you.”