Abomination

by E. E. Borton

  “I’m not your friend, Derek. I’m your brother. And I am my brother’s keeper. This will be over soon, and you and I’ll be sitting on some tropical beach living that better life, I promise.”

  23

  Choices

  Derek and Joshua spent the afternoon going over their plan to assault the Michaels Lab in Maine. Less than ten miles away, Ryan and his team were doing the same.

  “Do you think he’ll show?” asked Steve.

  “I hope so,” replied Ryan. “I’d feel more confident going up against Alex with him behind us. It took a lot of bullets to bring Peter down and we’ll be using half the men we had at the farmhouse. Whether he shows or not, it’s critical we get inside undetected.”

  “Our guy will pull through,” said Dallas. “He’s more afraid of the Colonel than he is of us.”

  “Okay, ladies,” said Steve, looking at a message on his phone. “The plane will be here in thirty minutes. We’ll meet up with my men at the hangar for the briefing. When is Red Team being picked up?”

  “Paul said the Colonel chartered a plane that’ll be here in about four hours,” replied Steve. “We’ll definitely beat them to Maine. He also said the Colonel wanted to see him as soon as he arrived. I thought the poor bastard was going to cry.”

  “Seriously, Dallas,” said Ryan, “Is he going to be able to hold his shit together? If he breaks down and turns on us, we’re all dead.”

  “He’ll hold it together, Boss. I’m pretty sure he wants to keep his new teeth. The Colonel mentioned something to him about reassigning his men to perimeter security. He needs every man he can muster right now. Even if he thinks they’re a bunch of fuck-ups, they can still pull a trigger.”

  “I agree,” said Steve. “If he’s not where we need him, we’ll know before we get too far inside. I like this plan, Ryan. It’s solid. Even if Derek doesn’t show, it’s still solid.”

  “Did Derek give you any idea when he’ll let us know?” asked Dallas.

  “Yeah, we’ll know by tomorrow morning,” answered Ryan. “Okay, let’s gear up and head to the airport. We’ve got a plane to catch.”

  *****

  Joshua and Derek finished their discussion and planned on traveling to Maine in two days. Derek ate and caught a few hours of sleep before getting ready for his nightly vigil.

  “Isn’t your parents’ place over thirty miles from here?” asked Joshua.

  “Yeah, it’s going to take me a little while to get there. I have a route that allows me to run along railroad tracks most of the way. It’ll take me about an hour to get there.”

  “I still think you’re taking an unnecessary risk going alone. Why don’t you let me come with you? Four eyes and claws are better than two, my friend.”

  “I appreciate the offer, Joshua. But I enjoy the solitude. It’s the only time I seem to be able to relax and clear my head. You’re a bit of a talker,” he said, smiling.

  “True, it is a long time for me to stay silent. Be careful tonight, Derek. You know I can’t finish this without you.”

  Derek looked around the dark and damp abandoned house. He covered the windows with heavy cloth so it would maintain the appearance of being unoccupied. The only source of light he could risk was a small candle in the main room. “I can’t wait to be somewhere I can turn on a fucking light.”

  He left the house and headed for the railroad tracks leading to his parents’ home. The old line crossed the road less than a hundred yards from the hideout. As he stood on the tracks, he stopped and looked around to make sure he was alone. When the coast was clear, he didn’t follow the rail line. Instead, he continued along the road toward Jennifer’s house.

  Derek knew if Joshua discovered his relationship with her he would do everything in his power to end it. Joshua had a master plan to wreak havoc as an unstoppable team. They’d need to be light on their feet and able to travel anywhere at any time. They couldn’t tolerate being held back by anyone without their abilities. Once they eliminated the ones that could stand in their way, they planned on moving freely to satisfy their urge without fear of discovery or interruption. It was Joshua’s plan, but never Derek’s.

  He needed to appease Joshua by agreeing to partner with the sociopath. He wanted his revenge on the people who destroyed his life as much as Joshua. When Jennifer convinced him there was hope of a way out, everything changed. He knew Joshua wouldn’t allow him to be with her. He knew he’d take her life to end the relationship and regain control of him.

  As he approached Jennifer’s house, he could see the deck illuminated with Tiki torches and candles. He could hear the music and see her dancing. He passed over his foxhole, crossed the creek, and slowly made his way to the first stair leading up to the deck.

  Joshua maintained a safe distance while following Derek. He crept down the path and noticed the hole Derek used as cover for watching the house. He looked across the yard from the creek bed and watched as the two embraced. He knew he had been betrayed.

  Derek sat holding her hand and talking with her for nearly two hours. Joshua sat motionless replaying in his head how he was going to kill her. He refused to let a simple woman drive a wedge between his fantasies of ultimate domination and the only person who could help him achieve it.

  His anger rose to an apex as he watched them embrace again and hold a passionate kiss long enough for him to realize where Derek’s loyalties truly lay. Derek turned away from her and started back towards the woods. Joshua silently moved farther down the creek bed to avoid detection. He watched her extinguish the lights and music as Derek assumed his post for the night in his foxhole. Joshua moved quietly back into the thick brush and took a position less than fifty yards away from the traitor. For the remainder of the night, he stared coldly at Derek, who never took his eyes off her house.

  As dawn began to push back the cover of night, Joshua made his way back to their hideout and waited for Derek to return. He sat alone in the dark room trying to subdue his anger. He didn’t want to tip his hand that he was aware of the relationship. Instead, he focused on the pleasure he would obtain snuffing the life out of the woman jeopardizing everything. After sitting alone for three hours, he heard footsteps approaching the front door. Derek was home.

  “An uneventful evening?” asked Joshua from his chair in the corner of the room.

  “Very,” replied Derek, taking a seat across from him. “I have to admit I nearly ran into the house when I started smelling my mother’s fried chicken. Good Lord, that woman can cook. I can’t tell you the last time I sat at her table and ate a home-cooked meal.”

  “Are you going back tonight?”

  “Not to my parents’,” said Derek, “I’m gonna grab a couple hours of sleep and then head to my sister’s place. She lives further away, so I’ll probably head out as soon as I wake up.”

  “Sleep well, my friend.”

  *****

  Paul walked slowly down the hallway leading to Colonel Brown’s office. He breathed deeply as he entered the last place on earth he wanted to be. Standing in front of the Colonel, Paul was silent while his boss finished a phone conversation.

  “Enjoy your vacation?” asked Colonel Brown.

  “It was no vacation, sir,” replied Paul. “It was pretty much hell on earth where they kept us.”

  “Oh, no, son,” said Colonel Brown, walking up to the nervous team leader. “You have absolutely no idea what hell on earth feels like. But I’ll make you feel it if you screw up again.”

  “I won’t, sir.”

  “I really didn’t want to hear that,” said Colonel Brown, standing with his arms crossed only a few inches away from Paul’s face. “I should’ve left you and your team to rot in your cells, but I need you here.”

  “My team is ready, sir.”

  “Explain to me again why they let you just walk out of there? If it were me, I would’ve buried you out in the desert.”

  “I believe that was the original plan,” said Paul, trying to stay calm. “But after w
hat happened to the doc and his men, the guy running the show had had enough. He’s worried about a federal investigation and losing his business. More killing would’ve brought more attention. I think he’s done helping Ryan.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” replied Colonel Brown. “I did some digging, and those two have been friends for over fifteen years. I imagine both of them are pissed right now. They’re probably looking to come here and get some answers and a little revenge. It’ll be the end of Ryan’s career and Steve’s company if they do, but it was my intention to force them to make mistakes. Coming here would be one of those mistakes.”

  “Where do you need my team, sir?” asked Paul, attempting to change the subject.

  “You and your guys are going to be on the perimeter. Alex is running the show and volunteered you to be the initial line of defense against an assault. He figures, even if you do screw up again, they’ll waste bullets and time chewing through your men first.”

  “We’ll be ready,” said Paul. “They won’t get by us. My guys and I are looking for a little payback.”

  “So are they.”

  *****

  Four large SUVs were parked outside a small airplane hangar at a private airstrip twenty miles from Bar Harbor, Maine. Ryan, Dallas, Steve, and his men were checking their gear and going over the final details of the assault on the lab.

  “Still no word from Derek?” asked Dallas.

  “Not yet,” answered Ryan. “He has a few hours left to decide. We’re moving forward as if he’s not going to show.”

  “You know, I can’t really blame him,” said Steve. “We did a lousy job trying to protect Kristina. I don’t imagine he has very much confidence in our ability to protect Jennifer.”

  “We can’t worry about it now,” said Ryan. “We need to take this one step at a time, and the first step is shutting down the Colonel.”

  “In order to do that, we have to get past Alex,” said Dallas. “Any ideas?”

  “He’s not bulletproof,” said Ryan. “None of them are. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but if they have no idea we’re there, it won’t be as hard. We focus on quietly finding him first. After he’s incapacitated, we can go loud on the rest of the troops.”

  “The lab will be practically empty tonight except for the security force,” said Steve. “Even if there’s a skeleton crew of employees, they’ll be easily distinguishable in their white coats. I handpicked my guys. They’re some of the best in the world. I don’t see us racking up a civilian body count.”

  “Good,” said Ryan. “Being a Friday night will also help us. Everything shuts down in there on the weekends. As far as Alex, our eyes on the inside should pinpoint his location for us. The Colonel may be the head of the snake, but Alex is his fangs. We eliminate him and the rest of the security force will fold.”

  “What about the Colonel?” asked Dallas.

  “I’ll be taking him,” said Ryan. “I need him alive. At least long enough to answer some questions.”

  *****

  Derek lay in his bed staring at the ceiling for nearly two hours. He had no intentions of falling asleep with Joshua in the next room. Knowing he was so close to Jennifer made him nauseous, but he had to control his level of distress and fear. Joshua was highly sensitive to any fluctuation in his level of anxiety. Thinking about bringing the nightmare to an end helped him ease his mind. How it was going to end was still a slight mystery. He had no other option at that point but to trust Ryan.

  He looked at his watch and realized it was nearly time to leave. The plane waiting for him at the airport wouldn’t be there much longer. He walked out to the living room and discovered Joshua sitting in the same dark corner.

  “Good morning, princess,” greeted Joshua.

  “Do you ever sleep?” asked Derek.

  “I slept like a baby right here in this chair. How was your nap?

  “I could use a few more hours, but I feel pretty good. I need to get moving, though. What are your plans today?”

  “Funny you should mention that,” replied Joshua. “I’ve been sitting here thinking about what you’re doing.”

  “What am I doing?” asked Derek.

  “Putting your eyes on people you care about. I’m thinking maybe I should do the same.”

  “Good for you,” said Derek. “It does help knowing for sure they’re okay. Even if you can’t let them know you’re there, it helps.”

  “I agree.”

  “Who are you going to see? I didn’t know you had family around here.”

  “No, I don’t. But there is one woman in particular I’d like to check in on. She’s an old friend I’ve always had a thing for.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, but don’t worry. I wouldn’t risk exposing myself to talk to her or let her know I’m here. I know it would ruin everything we’ve worked to achieve. I wouldn’t let anything or anyone come between you, me, and our mission. I couldn’t do that to you.”

  “I appreciate that, Joshua, I really do. I think you should go see her. Who knows, when all this is over, you may have the chance to tell her how you feel.”

  “I seriously doubt that.”

  “Never say never,” said Derek.

  “You seem pretty optimistic today. Do you know something I don’t?” asked Joshua.

  “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “You said when this is all over,” continued Joshua. “This will never be over for us, Derek. Do you understand? There is no cure for what they gave us. We’ll never be the men we were before they did this. The sooner you come to grips with our reality, the sooner you can stop the ridiculous dream of being normal again. It simply won’t happen.”

  “We don’t know anything about what we are,” said Derek. “We don’t know for sure if our condition is irreversible or permanent. We don’t know if it’ll ease up over time or become more intense. The only thing we do know is that we don’t want to be this way. After we make things right with the assholes that started this, I have to keep looking for a way to get my life back. Why is that so hard for you to understand?”

  “Because it’s a fucking dream and nothing else,” said Joshua, becoming angry.

  It was exactly what Derek wanted. He wanted to get him as angry as possible before he left.

  “It’s not a dream,” said Derek. “It’s just hope. If I lose that, I have absolutely nothing left. Nothing. I have to believe there’s at least a chance. I don’t want to kill innocent women anymore. I don’t want to accept I’m going to be a monster for the rest of my life. To me that’s not a life worth living.”

  “It’s not about accepting you’re a monster,” said Joshua. “It’s about accepting the things you can’t change. And we can’t change what happened to us. Peter and Richard had hope, and look what happened to them. They were murdered by the same people who created us. We’re not the monsters, they are. Damn it, Derek, you’re all I have left and I won’t let them take you. I won’t let anyone take you. We deserve to live. It may not be the life you hoped for, but at least it’s a life. If you hold on to that dream, they’ll kill you for it. I’d rather live and fight than hope and die.”

  “I’m with you, Joshua, I really am. We do need to fight. We need to make sure they never do this again to anyone else. But after, I need something to keep me going. I don’t know exactly what that’s going to be, but I have a good idea.”

  “I know you do,” said Joshua.

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, I do. But I also know, in the end, it’ll let you down. The only thing we can rely on is each other. Nobody else on the planet knows what we’ve been through. Nobody else on the planet will ever truly understand us. They’ll always look at us as murderers. They could care less about why we did it. Whether we wanted to or not is irrelevant. Someone has to pay, and it’ll be us.”

  With Joshua’s last statement, he didn’t need to push him any further. For a brief moment, he actually felt sorry for him. The feeling was quickly subdued
when he thought about the inconceivably evil actions of a man he once thought of as a friend.

  “You’re probably right, Joshua. Our lives are never going to be the same. Nothing we do or say will ever make them understand. If it has to be you and me against the world, then so be it.”

  “Make no mistake, it is you and me against the world.”

  “Okay. I need to get going. I’ll make it a short night. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I’m looking forward to finally getting my hands on those motherfuckers.”

  Derek made it to the airport with less than an hour to spare. The pilot of the aircraft notified Steve and Ryan that he was onboard.

  24

  Rain

  It was late afternoon when Derek arrived at the airfield in Maine. Ryan and Steve were the first to greet him when he walked into the hangar housing the assault team. Dallas was asleep in a small office adjacent to the building.

  “How was your flight?” asked Ryan with a handshake.

  “I’ve never been the only passenger on a plane,” replied Derek.

  “I apologize for no in-flight movie,” said Steve, holding out his hand. “We didn’t have much time to prep.”

  “Derek, this is my good friend Steve.”

  “So you’re the man I need to thank for the ride,” said Derek, shaking his hand. “You’re also the guy making sure Jennifer is safe, correct?”

  “On both counts, yes,” said Steve.

  “You have a very difficult and important job, Steve.”

  “One I take very seriously.”

  “For everyone’s sake, I hope so.”

  “Let me get you caught up on the details of the mission,” interrupted Ryan, sensing Derek’s apprehension. “We have a room next door we’ve set up for the briefings.”