by James Somers
33 UNEXPECTED AFTERMATH
Jonathan pulled Michael to his feet. His hand still clutched his machine gun. Michael looked down at it. “I think my hand is cramped up.” He pried the fingers free of the trigger guard and grip, grimacing. Then he flexed the pale digits. “That feels better.”
The two of them surveyed the scene around them. At least half to three quarters of the Genetic Corp building lay around them in smoldering heaps of rubble. Twisted steel girders rose out of the piles like claws. In several places, small geysers erupted from broken water pipes.
A large portion of the building stood ominously behind them. This part had somehow managed to survive the demolition, though it remained only a torn husk. “Did we kill him?” Michael asked.
Jonathan continued to scan the wreckage. “Hard to tell in this mess. He might be buried under tons of rubble.”
Michael scratched the back of his head and turned his neck until it popped. “I remember seeing him standing over Richard when the charges went off.”
“Who?”
“Richard. He provided the explosives and a team of men to help me set them in the building,” Michael said. “I don’t think any of them survived.”
Jonathan nodded. “I don’t suppose so.”
“That thing killed most before the explosion,” Michael added. “He’s changed again, Jonathan.”
“What do you mean? How did he change?”
“He must have gotten to his mutagen,” Michael said. “He had become something completely different by the time we saw him again.”
Jonathan looked on, waiting for the explanation. “Well…what?”
“I’m not sure how to describe it. He wasn’t at all like the big hulking brute he’d become before. It was like he turned into a man made of tar. When I shot at him, he didn’t bleed at all. The bullets tore at him, but then he reformed. He wasn’t human.”
Jonathan tried to absorb Michael’s information. Then a horrible uncertainty hit him. “If he’s become what you say, then a building landing on him probably wouldn’t be enough to kill him.”
Michael’s face registered the same dread. “We’ve got to make sure.” He started off toward the pulverized side of the building where smoke rose up in great plumes around them. Jonathan followed, searching the mounds of debris for any sign of the Nemesis creature.
In the distance, Jonathan heard sirens from emergency vehicles responding to the explosions and the collapse of Genetic Corp. After ten minutes of searching separately, Jonathan noticed Michael come to an abrupt halt a few yards away. “What is it? Did you find something?”
Michael waved Jonathan over to a pile of debris. As Jonathan drew near he spotted the body of a man. “Who is that?”
“Richard Stonewall,” Michael said.
“I’m sorry, Michael.”
“It’s not that…he was a brave man, but I hardly knew him. Look…this is where Trenton, or whatever he is now, should’ve been.”
Jonathan examined the strewn debris carefully. “And he’s not here.”
“Where would he have gone?”
“I don’t know,” Jonathan said. For the first time since he had found Michael again, he remembered his ward. “Where did you leave Jay?”
•••
Jonathan and Michael ran through the debris field around the remaining superstructure, down the quarter mile of parking lot beyond in order to reach the car where Jay had been waiting. When Jonathan saw no one visible in the front seat, he ran harder.
He reached the car hoping to find Jay asleep across one of the seats, but Jonathan already knew no one, least of all a teenage boy, would be found sleeping with a newly demolished building right in front of him. His heart skipped a beat, then he saw his worst fear realized.
Michael arrived on his heels. “Is he here?” He saw the answer as the last word was spoken. There on the hood of the police car, writing had been scrawled in dirty red letters that any fool could tell was blood. They both stood reading the words. Hawthorne Storage Alone.
Michael looked at Jonathan. “I don’t understand. Where’s this Hawthorne place?”
“It’s an unregistered cryo storage facility owned by Halo Tech. Only a few privileged people, including myself, even know the location.”
“Why all the secrecy?” Michael asked.
“We have a lot of wealthy customers who want to be frozen until their diseases have cures, just hoping for a little immortality. The unregistered location just adds to the feeling of security they have when leaving their bodies to the mercy of others.”
“Well, where is it?”
Jonathan stood, looking at the writing on the hood—at the blood the letters had been inscribed with. Michael looked at him curiously. “Uhm, the location, Jonathan?” Michael asked again.
Jonathan turned away. “He said alone, Michael. He means it.”
“Now wait a minute. You can’t just take off on this by your—”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Jonathan insisted. He stepped toward the driver’s side of the car and opened the door. The keys were still in the ignition. Jonathan sat down and shut the door, then started the car. Michael just stood there watching with his gun dangling at his side. “Are you just going to leave me here holding a machine gun in the middle of this?” he said, gesturing to the destruction around them.
“I don’t have time to waste, Michael,” Jonathan said, shifting the car into gear.
Michael held up his hands. “Well, pop the trunk. At least let me put this in there,” he said, holding up the gun. “There’s ammunition in there, and at least if you don’t use it, I don’t have to lug it around out here.”
Fire department trucks began to arrive behind them. Jonathan reached down on the dash and popped the trunk. Michael rounded the car and set the gun inside. Before he closed the lid, he flipped a small plastic cover open on the trunk wall and pressed the red button located beneath it. Michael slammed the lid closed and stood away from the car. “For what it’s worth, I hope you get the kid back okay,” he said.
Jonathan nodded. “If the Lord is with me, then I can’t fail.” He tried to smile, but it wasn’t convincing. Jonathan pressed the gas pedal, leaving Michael behind in the dim light of approaching dusk.
34 FROZEN ASSETS
Night had arrived by the time Jonathan closed in on the Hawthorne Cryo storage Facility owned by his Halo Tech Company. Douglas Tanner had brought him down to view the complex two years ago. He parked the car in the parking lot of the plain warehouse building.
They had located the facility in an area of town with very little traffic to ensure secrecy. What better place for Trenton to choose in order to kill him now? Jonathan shut off the car, opened the door, and stepped out into the night air. The main entrance was well lit. Nemesis was here and Jay would be with him. Jonathan walked cautiously toward the main door. He looked around, half expecting Nemesis to leap from the darkness and drive him into the pavement.
When Jonathan reached the door, placing his hand on the handle, it buzzed from within. He had been expected. Jonathan opened the door, passed through the vestibule, and through another security door into the main building.
Darkness greeted him on the other side, except for a blue light high above to the right. Through the glass windows in the control booth, Jonathan saw Jay raise his bound hands, trying to get his attention. Rows of lights came on near Jonathan, continuing down the length of the building.
Rows of opaque cryo cylinders lit up all around him, seeming like the tombstones of a vast mechanical graveyard. “I knew you would come for the boy.” Trenton’s smooth baritone voice echoed around the cylinders. “You always were weak that way.”
Jonathan searched the darkness for Trenton, but the illuminated cylinders only hindered his eyes penetrating the veil. “What do you want, Trenton?”
“I told you before…there is only Nemesis now,” he said.
“Trenton, I just want to—”
The voice grew
fierce. “There is only Nemesis now!” A living shadow lunged at Jonathan from the darkness. He reacted as he’d been taught to do for years. Nemesis struck at him, but Jonathan batted him away, diverting his efforts.
Jonathan protected himself by instinct, while his mind tried to comprehend what it was that he was fighting. He blocked the arms and hands, but the creature’s chest exploded toward him like another arm. The blow knocked Jonathan backward into one of the cryo cylinders. The heavy chamber overturned, but it was empty.
Nemesis laughed as his chest became normal again. “You’re not human at all, anymore, are you?” Jonathan asked.
“I told you already, Jonathan…I am a god!”
Jonathan stood up again. “You think becoming this thing has made you a god? You’ve lost yourself and turned into some kind of monster.”
Nemesis snarled at him. “Your opinions don’t matter and you would do better to keep them to yourself. Remember, I have the boy. He’s mine to kill, if I want to.”
Jonathan sneered at the pitch black thing before him. “Killing children? Is that something a god would do? Why don’t you just let the boy go? He’s done nothing in all of this.”
Nemesis made an attempt at smiling, but his mouth was devoid of teeth. “I’d be happy to let the boy go in exchange for yourself. I’m tired of you interrupting my work.”
“You mean killing people, don’t you?”
“My research must go on, for the good of mankind,” Nemesis said. “You are in the way, yet for some reason my old self lacks the desire to kill you outright.”
“What a relief,” Jonathan said sarcastically.
“Instead of death, I thought you might make an interesting trophy.”
“I don’t understand,” Jonathan said.
“I’ll release the boy, if you forfeit yourself,” Nemesis said.
Jonathan smiled. “Absolutely. Cut Jay loose and send him out of here.”
“Not exactly what I had in mind,” Nemesis said, tapping the keypad on the cryo cylinder next to him. The Plexiglass door unsealed with a muffled pop and slowly opened. “Since you possess some measure of the power I’ve come to have, you’ll only distract me from my work. I believe cryo containment will suit you nicely.”
Jonathan glared at the cylinder. “I don’t think so.”
“Then the boy dies,” Nemesis said. “Don’t think I’ve come unprepared to carry out that threat. “He lifted a remote of some kind and flicked a switch. The LED light changed from red to green instantly. “A little souvenir from your friends back at Genetic Corp.” He gestured back toward the control booth above, and Jay watching through the window. “I managed to save some of the explosives from your friends at Genetic Corp. There’s enough C4 in that control room to obliterate this entire building. Now get in. My patience is wearing thin.”
Jonathan’s shoulders slumped a bit as he conceded defeat. He inched his way toward the cryo cylinder. It would serve as his grave and tombstone. He stopped. “How do I know you’ll let Jay go? I want him released now.”
Nemesis’ smiled. “I’ve got no problem with that.” He pulled a walkie-talkie to his lips. “Jay, you can leave now.”
Jonathan was surprised when Jay shuffled to the rear door of the control booth, depressed the call button, and waited for the small elevator to ascend to him. “Just like that?” Jonathan asked.
“Why not?” Nemesis said. “The boy is of no use to me. You might think me a monster, Jonathan, but I’m simply a,” he paused, “a man driven by a passionate purpose. I want mankind to know the power and immortality I now have. I want to share my gift with humanity. The boy can’t do anything about that now.”
“What you call a gift, I call—”
Nemesis raised a hand. “Oh, spare me your righteous indignation, Jonathan. I’ve heard quite enough. Just keep your word and get into the cylinder.”
The lift brought Jay down from the control booth, depositing him on the main cryo stasis floor. He limped out of the elevator. “Jonathan, aren’t you coming with me?”
“He has a promise to keep, boy. Get out of here while I’m feeling generous,” Nemesis ordered.
Jonathan nodded to Jay. “Do as he says. I’ll be fine.” He tried to fake a smile for the boy, but it didn’t come off well. Nemesis had won.
Jay limped toward the door, looked back again, then passed through. “Now, I’ve kept my word,” Nemesis said. “The boy is safe. After all of your Jesus talk, I hope you’re not going to come out a liar.”
Jonathan’s face hardened. He opened the cryo cylinder door and stepped inside. Nemesis hurried to the control pad before the chamber and tapped the door control. It wheezed and shut upon Jonathan. Nemesis smiled, satisfied.
Jonathan watched him adjust the settings on the control pad, initiating the cryo containment process. He looked up to the ceiling, where several massive liquid Nitrogen tanks hung in series with other chemicals used in the procedure. “Don’t worry, Jonathan, you’re not going to die, just sleep for a long time. If you ever wake, the world will be a very different place.”
His words lacked any measure of comfort. Jonathan knew Nemesis was only taunting him. He didn’t care what Jonathan felt. It was even likely that Nemesis would kill him while he was incapacitated in the cryo unit.
Jonathan glanced from the tanks back to the control pad, and the gleeful way Nemesis set the parameters into place. He closed his eyes and prayed. Perhaps death would be better. After all, he had no desire to remain a frozen vegetable indefinitely. He’d just as soon go on to his Heavenly reward than this, but Jonathan wouldn’t break his word.
Nemesis looked up at the tanks suspended from the ceiling above him. “Don’t worry, Jonathan. It will freeze you very quickly. I’m sure it won’t hurt…much,” he said, smiling.
Nemesis finalized his settings, bypassed the normal safety blocks, then hit enter to initiate the freezing process. Jonathan felt a rush of air from the top of the chamber and heard the hum of machines in motion.
The door burst open at the back of the room. Michael rushed in with a high powered assault rifle, took aim at the cryo tanks and started firing as fast as he could.
Overhead, the pressurized liquid nitrogen tanks burst open as the large caliber shells slammed into them. Liquid nitrogen fell in gushing waves to the main floor, showering Nemesis in the deadly cold fluid. Michael rushed back through the door to avoid the sweeping torrent of fluid spreading across the floor.
The rush of air stopped inside Jonathan’s cryo cylinder. A warning chime sounded somewhere outside. It was soon drowned out by the rush of liquid spilling onto the main floor. Jonathan lost sight of Nemesis as the fluid rushed over him.
He felt the cold attempting to penetrate the cryo cylinder. The thick insulation normally helpful in containing the freezing cold, in this case, kept it at bay. Jonathan prayed even harder.
35 CHILLING RESULTS
Jonathan waited. Everything outside remained eerily quiet. He pushed upon the cylinder door, but it remained locked, encrusted with sheets of frozen nitrogen. He backed up against the wall of the chamber and gave a quick thrust at the door with his body. The door shattered into pieces and fell away. The room beyond had been covered by the flow. Overhead, the tanks of nitrogen looked like abandoned eggshells. The cryo cylinders stood like frozen obelisks in an arctic night. A thick fog hovered at waist level over the entire main floor.
Jonathan spotted the person he was searching for. Nemesis stood before him with his hands raised toward the sky—his obsidian form covered in chemical ice.
The door opened at the back of the chamber, and Michael peeked his head inside. “Jonathan? Are you all right?”
Jonathan smiled, never more glad to see the detective in his life. “I’m fine, thanks to you,” he said. “How in the world did you find me here?”
“Police vehicles carry tracking devices onboard,” he said as he started cautiously across the floor. “Did we get him?”
Jonathan gestured back towa
rd the frozen form of Nemesis. “See for yourself. You turned him into a popsicle.”
“Yeah, but how long will that keep?”
“Not long enough,” Jonathan said. “If he were still human, I’d say he was finished, but now I just don’t think we can take the risk. We’ll have to put him into one of the facility’s mobile cryo units until we can decide what to do with him.”
Jay peeked his head around the door. “Is everything all right in here?”
“Wait outside, Jay,” Jonathan said. “We’ve got to get Trenton into a cryo chamber before he thaws.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Jay asked.
“Now that you mention it, if you have a cell phone on you—”
“I’ve got one in the car, and a laptop,” Michael interrupted.
“—good, then try to get a hold of Douglas Tanner for me, Jay. He might be able to arrange a permanent resting spot for Trenton.”
Jay gave a thumbs up. “I’m on it.” He disappeared back through the door, hobbling toward the police car.
Jonathan looked at Trenton’s frozen form. “First thing to do is search in the office area and get the keys to one of the mobile units. Then we’ll bring it back here and load him up.”
Michael patted Jonathan on the shoulder. “After that, the donuts are on me.”
Jonathan smiled. “You know what, Detective? I’m gonna take you up on that offer.”
