Laura squirmed as her father stared at her. “Spill it, Punkin. I want to know everything.”
“I think I pretty much told you everything.” She picked at her fingernails as she chewed at her lower lip.
“I don’t think you did. You mentioned that monsters were real. You said that you are dating a vampire. But you said nothing about the men you working with actually being infected with this stuff like I am.”
“Well, how else did you think I’d know it was safe?” She shrugged as if he should have simply connected the dots.
Jim inhaled deeply and sighed. “Tell me, how many are there?”
“Enough.” She shook her head. “Dad, I’m not really supposed to talk about it.”
“Just like I’m sure you aren’t supposed to smuggle that stuff out and shoot me up with it, yet, here we are.” He narrowed his stare at her and watched her squirm.
“Daddy, really. It’s classified, and I could get into a lot of trouble for just mentioning them.”
Jim nodded. “Fine. I can understand that, I suppose.” He pursed his lips as a multitude of thoughts ran through his mind. “Can you at least tell me why they volunteered for this?”
She nodded. “To better fight the real monsters out there. So that they could keep up.”
“So, in order to fight the monsters, they had to become a monster? Fight fire with fire.”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“And that’s why you were so…adamant about me knowing the rules you expect me to live by? Because if I don’t live by those rules…”
She nodded, tears starting to form in her eyes. “Then they would definitely come and hunt you down.”
“And then somebody would put two and two together and realize what you did.”
She shook her head and finally met his gaze, her tears falling freely. “I don’t care if they find out. Hell, I’ll probably end up spilling my guts to them as soon as I get back anyway. I just don’t want anything to happen to you. If it did it would be…” Her voice cracked and she trailed off, burying her face.
“What?”
She lifted her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “It would be my fault. They would hunt you down, and they would kill you and it would be all my fault. Don’t you see?”
Jim shook his head. “No, Punk, I don’t. It isn’t your fault if I do something I shouldn’t. It’s called personal responsibility.” He pulled her tight and squeezed her. “I know I taught you better than that.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I should have told you everything.” She sniffed as he stroked her arm.
“You told me enough, Punk.” Jim stared off into nothingness.
“What’s wrong?” Laura pulled back slightly and stared at him. “I know when you’re not telling me something.”
Jim inhaled sharply and let the breath out slowly. He leaned over and picked up something that she couldn’t quite make out. He lifted it in the low light and held it out to her. She wrapped her hand around it and recognition hit her like a truck. It was the vial that held the wolf virus she had infected him with. It was empty.
She pulled back from him and stared at him with shock. “Daddy? What did you do with the rest of it?”
*****
First Squad advanced on the warehouse and caught the light from Spalding and Sullivan’s positions. Donovan approached the pair and handed them their coms. “Boss ain’t too happy you’re here.”
“He’ll get over it.” Spalding plugged in his coms and did a check.
“Don’t be so sure, Spanky,” Major Tufo corrected. “I tend to hold a grudge.”
Spalding sputtered and responded, “Sorry, Major. Didn’t realize the coms were hot.”
“Apparently.” Mark took his seat again and keyed up the helmet cams. “Make this a clean op and I’ll consider forgiving you.”
“Copy that, sir.” Spalding gave a quick rundown of what was he spotted inside the warehouse.
Sullivan added, “They’re working on a mock-up of some kind and running drills at the same time.”
Mark smiled to himself. “Those would be phony plans, gentlemen. I wish I could tell you what to expect, but honestly, I didn’t think they could be built.”
“Understood, sir.” Spalding motioned his men forward, “Two by two standard, run silent, suppressed fire.”
“Be advised, Delta One, you’re running without air support. Drones are inbound, but ETA is so far out that clean-up crews will probably be finishing up before they arrive.”
“Copy that.”
The squad made a slow advance with Lamb and Jacobs breaking left and working around to the rear of the building. Donovan and Tracy broke left and stacked up on the west roll away door. Spalding and Sullivan stacked on the south maintenance door.
Tracy broke coms first, “West entrance open, clear view through the structure.”
“Tangos?” Spalding asked.
“Negative, Delta One. West side is clear. Nothing but gear and machinery on this end.”
Spalding nodded to Sullivan. “Breach west side, Delta Five. Delta Two, provide cover.”
Lamb came over the coms. “North side is locked tight. No entry without blowing the door.”
“Copy that, Delta Three. You and Four stand by until bingo.”
“Roger that.”
Sullivan tiptoed and glanced through the window next to the maintenance door. “We’re clear on this end, boss. You ready?”
Spalding nodded. “Delta One and Six are breaching south entrance.” Sullivan opened the door and Spalding slid in, scanning left to right. Little John came in behind and above him, sweeping right to left. The pair slid to the right and behind a stack of crates.
Spalding pulled a small mirror from his vest and checked the corners. “Clear.”
The pair slipped out and made a tactical advance along the wall until they came to a door on their right. A row of cots inside lay empty and it was obvious that was where the small army was using as sleeping quarters. Spalding moved them further on until the stack of crates ended. Using the mirror again, he could see where a group of men were constructing a mock-up while another group were running drills on the lower level.
He looked to Sullivan and smiled. “Want to come in the back of that mock-up and give them a real surprise?”
“We got a warehouse full of unarmed guys and you want to go face the ones with automatic weapons first?” He shook his head. “You got a death wish I don’t know about?”
Spalding chuckled. “Buddy, that sure sounds like simunition to me. They aren’t putting any holes in that plywood.”
Sullivan’s brows knitted and he took a quick glance. “Good eye, boss. I’ve been listening to them run drills all this time and wishing they’d run out.” He checked the safety on his rifle and nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Spalding keyed his coms, “We’re heading for the mock-up. Advance and engage. Delta Three and Four, you have the bingo.” The pair scooted across the stack of crates and came to the rear of the mock-up. Spalding glanced down the length of the warehouse and could just make out Delta Two and Delta Five making their way down the length of the structure. Sullivan pushed through the flimsy back door and brought his rifle to his shoulder. Spalding slipped in behind him and followed suit.
The pair worked their way from the back to the front, taking turns spitting suppressed rounds through their rifles, watching as wolves reacted violently to the silver jacketed rounds. As they worked their way closer to the front, they waited for the next wave to enter. “Anybody got eyes on the mock-up?”
“You may come out now. We have your people,” a heavily accented voice spoke directly in his ear.
Spalding froze and glanced at Little John who visibly stiffened. John tightened his grip on his rifle and took a half step forward, but Spalding reached out and grabbed the man by his massive bicep. “Don’t.” Little John glanced back the way they had come and Spalding shook his head. He keyed his coms. “To whom am I speaking?”
“Chief Warrant Officer Martinez, we have your people. You may come out now or they will die.” Spalding slowly lowered his rifle and sighed.
“You ain’t giving up?”
“The only way he can come across our coms is if he has one of our guys.” He looked up at the low ceiling and shook his head. “And they probably have a signal blocker in place or Major Tufo would be screaming in our ears right now.”
“You have five seconds.”
Spalding keyed his coms. “Okay. We’re coming out.”
John grabbed his arm and shook his head. “We don’t surrender.”
“We’re blind in here and they have our people. As long as we’re breathing, we have a fighting chance.”
Spalding stepped to the front of the mock-up and pushed open the door. He was greeted with multiple rifle barrels in the face.
*****
Director Jameson waited for Ingram to pick up the phone. He wasn’t surprised that the man’s voice wasn’t groggy when he answered. “What is it?”
“You were right. I’m watching a video of someone rifling through my office now.”
“Is it him?”
Jameson sighed into the phone. “I can’t be certain. I want to say yes.” He paused the video and stared at the low light image. Whoever it was had a penlight in their mouth that cast them into silhouette. Even when they got on his computer, the screen blocked his face from view. “I just can’t tell.”
“I would say it’s safe to assume it’s him.”
“As would I. The question is, what are his intentions?”
“Only he can tell you that.” Ingram shifted the phone and he jotted a few notes. “Do you want me to send a team to pick him up?”
Jameson considered it for a moment. “No, let me handle him. If he has the balls to break into my office then I may have misjudged him.” He leaned back and stared at the assuredness of the man in his office. “He may well be the man for the job.”
“How do you want to play him? Let him in on the plan or keep dropping crumbs and see if he goes running to them?”
Jameson pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “I’m not sure. I want to test him a bit more first.”
“Did he get anything?”
Jameson chuckled into the phone. “There’s nothing to get. All of my files are hard-copied and locked tight in my safe. Without my palm print, eye scan and the combination, nobody is getting into it. You should have seen his reaction when he realized that.”
“Are you absolutely sure? The little shit can be pretty creative.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” Jameson closed the video file and closed the lid on his computer. “There’s nothing out there for anybody to tie us to the program except what we tell them.”
“You’d better be right. We’re not just talking about a slap on the wrist here.” Ingram shifted the phone again and Jameson got the paranoid thought that perhaps he was recording the conversation. “They could put us both away for a very long time.”
“Oh, I’m very aware of the ramifications.” He sat back in his chair and spun it to stare out his home office window. “When will they be ready for a field trial?”
“Very soon. They’re finishing the medical tests now.” Ingram’s voice dropped to a near whisper, “You won’t believe what these guys can do.”
“They’d better be good. These monster hunters are nothing to sneeze at.”
“Oh, they’re good. Good enough to get the job done,” Ingram chuckled into the phone. “And for the amount of money we’re being paid, they’ll do everything we promised and then some.”
“If the Council finds out we intend to double cross them after all of the monsters have been eradicated…they’ll send somebody after us.”
“That’s why we save them for last. There won’t be anybody left for them to send after us.” Ingram laughed as he hung up the phone.
Coming Fall 2015
MS8-Specters
From the desk of Heath Stallcup
A personal note-
Thank you so much for investing your time in reading my story. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment and leave a review. I realize that it may be an inconvenience, but reviews mean the world to authors…
Also, I love hearing from my readers. You can reach me at my blog: http://heathstallcup.com/ or via email at [email protected]
Feel free to check out my Facebook page for information on upcoming releases: https://www.facebook.com/heathstallcup find me on Twitter at @HeathStallcup or via my Author Page at Amazon.
My stories so far:
The Monster Squad Series
The first saga:
Humanity has spent its time enjoying a peace that can only be had through blissful ignorance. For centuries, stories of things that go “bump” in the night have been passed down and shared. When creatures of the night proved to be real, the best of America’s military came together to form an elite band of rapid response teams. Their mission: to keep the civilian populace safe from those threats and hide all evidence of their existence.
This time, they face the largest threat ever to rise against mankind as it prepares its own twisted Apocalypse. The only thing standing in its way is the Monster Squad. Man and monster will fight side by side in an epic battle to the death to try to defeat an evil so great, it could only have been created by the hand of God Himself.
The second saga:
An ancient evil is awakened by a naïve pawn. Planned centuries in advance by fallen angels, the reign of Lilith is put into motion. With a legion of demons at her command, she plans to enact her revenge upon the world’s largest religious group before thrusting herself center stage and taking her seat upon the throne as Queen of the World.
With threats coming at them from every angle, the Monster Squad turns to an ex-member to form a new team—a team made up of the most unlikely warriors to hunt down and face the Demon Queen.
However, when it comes time to remove the Queen in this grand game of chess, will they be able to sacrifice their own game pieces to do it?
Caldera
For years, the biggest threat Yellowstone was thought to offer was in the form of its semi-dormant super volcano. Little did anyone realize the threat was real and slowly working its way to the surface, but not in the form of magma. Lying deep within the bowels of the earth itself, an ancient virus waited.
Recently credited with wiping out the Neanderthals, the virus is released within the park and quickly spreads. A desperate plea for assistance reaches the military, but are they coming to help those battling for their lives or to wipe out every living thing in an effort to prevent a second mass extinction? Can humanity survive the raging cannibals that erupt from within?
Whispers
How does a sheriff’s department from a small North Texas community stop a brutal murderer who is already dead and buried?
When grave robbers disturb the tomb of Sheriff James ‘Two Guns’ Tolbert searching for Old West relics, a vengeful spirit is unleashed, hell bent for blood. Over a hundred years in the making, a vengeful spirit hunts for its killers. If those responsible couldn't be made to pay, then their progeny would.
Even when aided by a Texas Ranger and UCLA Paranormal Investigators, can modern-day law enforcement stop a spirit destined to fulfill an oath made in death? An oath fueled by passion from a love cut down before its time?
Forneus Corson
Nothing comes easy and nothing is ever truly free. When Steve Wilson stumbles upon the best-kept secret of history’s most successful writers, he can’t help but take advantage of it. Little did he know it would come back to haunt him in ways he’d never have dreamt… even in his worst nightmares.
With his life turned upside down, his name discredited, his friends persecuted, the authorities chasing him for something he didn’t do, Steve finds himself on the run with nothing but his wits and his best friend by his side. When a man finds himself hitting rock bottom, he thinks there’s little else he can do but go up�
� unless he’s facing an evil willing to dig the hole deeper. An evil in the business of pitting men against odds so great, they risk losing their very souls in the attempt to escape…
For a refreshing change of pace, check out this exciting new Young Adult Zombie thriller from JJ Beal.
Lions & Tigers & Zombies, Oh My!
The cold war has heated up again. This time the battle will be fought in every street of America.
Trapped in a major city, hours from their small town country home, a team of young girls find themselves cut off from everyone they know and left to fend for themselves as the world spins out of control.
With nothing but their wits, their softball equipment and their friendship to hold them together, they face incredible odds as they fight their way across the state. Physical, emotional and psychological challenges meet them at every turn as they struggle to find the family they can’t be sure survived. How much more can they endure before reaching the breaking point?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heath Stallcup was born in Salinas, California and relocated to Tupelo, Oklahoma in his tween years. He joined the US Navy and was stationed in Charleston, SC and Bangor, WA shortly after junior college. After his second tour he attended East Central University where he obtained BS degrees in Biology and Chemistry. Heath then served ten years with the State of Oklahoma as a Compliance and Enforcement Officer while moonlighting nights and weekends with his local Sheriff's Office. He still lives in the small township of Tupelo, Oklahoma with his wife and three of his seven children. He steals time to write between household duties, going to ballgames, being a grandfather to five and being the pet of numerous animals that have taken over his home. Visit him at heathstallcup.com or Facebook.com for news of his upcoming releases.
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