Ultimate Attack

by Michael P. Spradlin

  ONCE AGAIN, DR. CATALYST POUNDED ON THE STEERING wheel in frustration. Finding it to be an unsatisfactory release of his anger and rage, he grabbed the Maglite flashlight on the seat and slammed it into the dashboard over and over. Finally, he tossed it onto the floorboards and slumped back into the driver’s seat.

  The plan had been set up perfectly. During his reconnaissance, he had studied and followed Calvin and Emmet as they left school and returned home. He watched the police patrols who protected them and looked for patterns. The two boys very rarely left the house once home, and the so-called babysitter next door was no threat.

  It grew dark early this time of year, which gave Dr. Catalyst time to release the creature before Dr. Geaux and Dr. Doyle arrived home for the evening. At first he’d wrestled with indecision over including young Calvin in his vendetta. It was Emmet Doyle he was after. It was Emmet who’d ruined everything. Perhaps Calvin would survive. If not, then he would be collateral damage in his crusade to save the Everglades.

  It was dark when Dr. Catalyst released the Swamp Cat — as he’d started calling it — at the creek. The location was isolated, yet close enough to the Geaux house for it to pick up Emmet’s scent. The creature was now familiar with its mission and comfortable tracking the boy. When the vehicle’s rear door was opened and it was freed from the cage, it leapt to the ground and immediately began hunting.

  He’d watched as it traveled along the creek, until it disappeared into the darkness. Dr. Catalyst could still hear it stalking through the undergrowth near the bank and every so often its growl carried through the night air. When there was no longer any sight or sound of the Swamp Cat, he hopped in the delivery van and drove to a spot on the street near the house, where he would have a view of the events. As he watched, he was nearly giddy with anticipation. But then the minutes ticked by, and he grew nervous waiting. In his rearview mirror, he saw a police car turning onto the street. He ducked down until it passed by.

  Dr. Catalyst monitored the Swamp Cat’s progress on his tablet. According to the tracker, it was now along the bank, nearing the Geaux house. Silently he willed the beast to move faster.

  Headlights flashed in his mirror. He slumped in the seat again but sat up in alarm when a silver Buick pulled into the Geaux driveway. Dr. Geaux and Dr. Doyle hurried out of the car and rushed inside. Glancing at the tablet, the red dot indicated the creature was now in the backyard. Had the boys spotted it and called to alert their parents? Should he activate the homing beacon and recapture it?

  No. Unlikely. Emmet Doyle and Calvin Geaux were smart and resourceful. If they had seen the Swamp Cat, they would have called 9-1-1 immediately. Something else was happening here. The tracker still showed the cat in the backyard. What was going on? Was there some alarm, or motion sensor that might have confused or delayed the beast? Rolling the window down, he strained to listen, but could hear nothing.

  He waited, sweat forming on his brow and running down into his eyes. Then the red dot on the tablet rapidly moved forward. By the map on the screen, the Swamp Cat was inside the house!

  “Yes!” he shouted. “Yes!”

  His joy turned to immediate concern a few seconds later when he heard a gunshot, followed quickly by another. Had Dr. Geaux shot the Swamp Cat? No. How could this be? The animal was too fast and ferocious for normal human reflexes. Remembering to look at the monitor, he was relieved to find the red dot moving away from the house. It crossed the backyard, probably jumping the fence, and was now progressing steadily along the creek.

  Dr. Catalyst started the truck and sped to the spot where he had released the Swamp Cat. He activated the homing beacon, knowing the animal would return to the van. The beacon emitted the scent it had been trained on, and the van was filled with food.

  He waited.

  The tracker showed the red dot moving in his direction. Taking his position behind the open rear door, he kept one eye on the tablet and one on the darkness, but it was still shocking when the powerful animal burst out of the underbrush. It vaulted into the pen and Dr. Catalyst quickly lowered the cage door. He jumped up into the cargo bay and turned on his flashlight. The creature snarled at the light, stalking back and forth in the cage, but there were no signs of blood. It did not appear wounded, although its face and the fur around its shoulders were covered with some strange white substance.

  Dr. Catalyst was relieved the Swamp Cat had not been seriously injured. In the distance he heard sirens. Lots of sirens. It was time to find out what had happened. He drove back to his spot on the street just in time to see several police cars and ambulances arrive.

  As he watched, he put on a hat and turned up the collar on his jacket. Neighbors were exiting their houses into the street to investigate the commotion. It would not do to be recognized.

  A few minutes later, paramedics emerged from the house, with someone on a gurney. Moments later came another one. Calvin Geaux stood next to it. Part of Dr. Catalyst was glad his creature had spared the kid. It was not entirely his fault the Doyle brat had corrupted him.

  Dr. Catalyst held his breath, waiting for his moment. There would be a smaller body on a gurney, covered in a sheet, and the weeping, hysterical Dr. Doyle walking next to it. Finally he would have his victory.

  When the next set of paramedics emerged, he sat stunned at the wheel of the van. Emmet Doyle, illuminated by the flashing emergency lights, was walking next to it. It appeared he didn’t have a scratch on him. It must have been his father who was injured. Emmet stepped into the ambulance and it pulled away.

  “No!” he shouted, pounding his fist on the steering wheel again. “No! What does it take to kill this kid!?” Nothing he tried worked. Emmet Doyle was a magician!

  And that was how he found himself, a few hours later, driving toward Miami. Looking in the mirror, he checked his disguise. He had dyed his hair blond with an over-the-counter coloring kit and wore a fake mustache. Now dressed in a police uniform, he was driving a Florida City police cruiser.

  One way or another, it was time to end this.

  EMMET’S DAD, DR. GEAUX, AND CALVIN’S UNCLE YAHA all had to be airlifted to South Miami Hospital. It was the same hospital Stuke had been taken to after the Muraecuda bit him. Emmet and Calvin sat together in the OR waiting room. He thought it was the most appropriately named room ever. Waiting. Room. The minutes dragged. There was an old-fashioned clock hanging on the wall, right above a row of extremely uncomfortable chairs. He swore he could hear the seconds ticking, but the minute hand moved like a glacier.

  When they’d first arrived, he and Calvin both paced back and forth. But they eventually paced themselves out, and now sat across from each other. The seats had stiff backs and thin cushions. They couldn’t be less inviting, but it didn’t really matter. There was no way Emmet could feel comfortable under the circumstances, anyway.

  Stuke’s dad, a Florida City police lieutenant, was on the Dr. Catalyst task force. He and his wife notified the paramedics that they were bringing Stuke, Riley, and Raeburn to the hospital for moral support. Mrs. Clawson was watching Apollo. For now it was just the two of them. Waiting. In the waiting room. After he stopped pacing, Calvin sat in a chair, all stiff and rigid. Emmet knew he was worried about his mom. And while he never got a chance to hear the complete story about Dr. Catalyst being his grandfather, now was probably not the time to have it out with him. Now was the time to be a friend. Even if he was still a little ticked off.

  “All right, I get it,” Emmet said. “I don’t agree with what you did. Holding back information like that. It could have saved us from almost getting eaten by that giant cat-dog creature. But now I understand why you had questions. I mean, how old were you the last time you saw your grandfather alive?”

  “I never saw him,” Calvin said. His voice was tinged with sadness.

  “So if you haven’t seen him in that long, then you … Wait, never?” Emmet suddenly processed what he’d heard. Calvin had never met his own grandfather. “I’m sorry, Calvin. I didn’t kn
ow that.” Now he felt even worse. Calvin was a smart, brave, honest kid. Emmet was starting to understand why he was reluctant to speak up. At least a part of him was.

  Calvin shrugged. “My dad told me he died before I was born.”

  “What made you recognize him in the hallway at school?” Emmet asked.

  “I don’t know. That picture … the one from my dad’s journal … I’ve probably studied it a thousand times. I’ve always wanted to be like my dad, living in a camp in the swamp, catching fish and gators and stuff. And all the time we spent out there — flying around on his boat — he would tell me about how his dad taught him everything about the Everglades. Like he was going to teach me. Only my dad died before he could teach me everything he knew.

  “Then I saw this guy for a brief second in the hallway, and it kind of jolted me. He looked just like the man in the photo.”

  Calvin sighed and leaned back in the chair. “My dad showed me the picture a few times. It was the only one he had of his father. But I never knew where he kept it. After I found it in his journal I’d just look at it sometimes, you know? And wonder. I memorized the face. Wondered what he would be like if he were still alive. Then I saw him in the hallway…. Anyway, I had to be sure. Was I remembering the right person? Maybe I’d forgotten. I knew Mom would be hard to convince. So I took Dragonfly One and went to visit Uncle Yaha. I just asked if one of the men in the photo was my grandfather. He asked me why I wanted to know, but I wouldn’t tell him. Finally he told me yes, it was. I swear he never told me anything about Grand … about Dr. Catalyst coming to him. Honest, Emmet. He never did.”

  “I believe you, Calvin,” Emmet said. And he did.

  “I was on my way back home when I found you and Riley and Raeburn stranded in the swamp. I was going to tell my mom. But I thought about it. My grandfather was dead. How could he be Dr. Catalyst? With no proof of anything except my quick glance down a hallway? What if I was wrong? My mom … she tries so hard to get Yaha and the rest of my father’s family to accept her. She does it for my sake. What if I was wrong? They would never forgive her for dishonoring the family name. She’d already lost my dad. I couldn’t … After a while, I just stopped thinking I saw what I thought I saw,” he said.

  “So how did your grandfather become Dr. Catalyst?” Emmet asked him.

  Calvin shook his head. “I don’t know. I was counting on Uncle Yaha to fill in some of the details. My dad very rarely spoke about his father, except when we were on the River of Grass, when he would say his dad taught him this or that. I guess they had some kind of a falling-out. All I know is he was really smart. He studied microbiology somewhere and was a top student. I went to the library and looked up newspaper articles about him. He once tried to run for a seat on the tribal council but didn’t get elected. Before he died, he was always working with some group or another to save the Everglades. In all the articles about him he would rave on and on about the environment being destroyed. He hated the government, developers, even the tribe, for destroying the Everglades.”

  “Sounds like our man,” Emmet said.

  “But then he died.”

  “Or not,” Emmet said.

  “Or not,” Calvin echoed resignedly.

  A woman in a white coat bustled into the waiting room. Nurse Hernandez had helped them when they arrived at the hospital.

  “What’s happening? What’s going on?” Emmet asked, as both he and Calvin scrambled to their feet.

  “Emmet, your dad is going to be okay. He has some deep lacerations on his chest, and one of the creature’s claws punctured a lung. That’s a pretty serious injury. He lost some blood, but he’ll recover. It’ll be a few days in the hospital. He’s on a heavy dose of antibiotics, as we need to guard against infection.” She turned to Calvin.

  “Calvin, your mom is okay,” she said. “The bite broke her arm and cut some ligaments and tendons. She’s still in surgery, but we’ve got two great surgeons working on her right now. Dr. Geaux will probably need a lot of physical therapy, but the important thing is she’s going to be all right.”

  “What about my uncle Yaha?” Calvin asked, a wave of relief washing over him that his mother was going to be okay.

  Her faced changed. She got a lot more serious.

  “I don’t know yet,” she said. “Your uncle took the worst of the attack. He lost a lot of blood, and he has bites and puncture wounds everywhere. He has an entire team of surgeons working on him right now, and his condition is still critical. He’s going to be in the OR for quite a while. I’m sorry to give you boys this news when you’re here all alone. Do you have anyone coming to stay with you? Any family? It will be some time before you can see your parents, I’m afraid.”

  “We have friends coming,” Emmet said. “Including Lieutenant Stukaczowski from the Dr. Catalyst task force. They’re on the way from Florida City. They should be here anytime now. Will we be able to see our parents as soon as —”

  He never got to finish. The earsplitting Klaxon sound of the hospital fire alarm interrupted him. Strobe lights flashed and the noise pounded the air like a hammer.

  “What the …” Emmet said.

  “I don’t know. But we’re going to have to evacuate,” Nurse Hernandez said.

  “What!? But what about our parents? What about the operating rooms?” He was scared now.

  “Don’t worry. It’s probably a false alarm. It happens all the time. But even if it isn’t, your parents and uncle will be okay. The operating rooms are sealed and heavily protected by fire-suppression systems. We’ll be able to stabilize them and evacuate them to a nearby OR in an adjacent building,” she said.

  A voice came over the speaker system. “Attention. Attention. We have a fire emergency. This is not a drill. All personnel please execute patient-evacuation-plan Alpha. This is not a drill. Repeat. This is a fire emergency. Execute evacuation-plan Alpha.”

  “Okay, boys, I need to start moving patients, and you need to leave the building. Use the stairs and go out the exit right away.” Nurse Hernandez sped away, her lab coat flapping behind her.

  Calvin had a worried look on his face, but Emmet knew there was no way he would ignore a fire alarm. They hurried to the stairway door, pushed it open, and started their descent.

  The farther down they went, the more something started tugging at a corner of Emmet’s brain. A crazy genetic freak attacks them and a few hours later, while they’re in the hospital waiting for their parents to get out of surgery, a fire alarm goes off?

  What were the odds?

  Something didn’t feel right.

  DR. CATALYST STRODE THROUGH THE LOBBY OF THE hospital. It was always amazing to him how easy it was to get into and out of places if you assumed the identity of someone in authority. His Florida City police uniform gave him entry to the entire hospital. No one stopped or questioned him.

  On the drive to Miami, he had contemplated how he could get his hands on Emmet. Going straight into the hospital and asking for him would arouse suspicion. Worse, there would be security cameras, and a record of him asking. The boy might also be under watch by security or other police officials, and they would not be so easily fooled by his disguise. He didn’t want to charge into a gaggle of police officers. The best option would be to get the hospital empty and have Emmet outside, where he might have a chance to separate him from those watching him.

  The ideal way to do that would be to create some kind of emergency. The easiest emergency would be a fire alarm. But he couldn’t just pull the fire alarm. Hospitals had sophisticated fire-detection-and-suppression systems. Once they determined it was a false alarm, they would simply shut it off. Which meant he would need to start an actual fire. But he had to choose a spot carefully. He did not want to unnecessarily hurt anyone. Once word got out that Emmet was missing, he would receive enough bad publicity. Setting fire to a hospital would not win any followers to his cause. But the Doyle brat’s interference had gone on long enough.

  Dr. Catalyst parked the cruiser
in a parking garage adjacent to the hospital. He studied a map of the interior of the building on his tablet. Looking closely at the layout of the place, he immediately found the ideal location for his decoy fire. He entered the building through a side entrance, carrying a small duffel bag, and made his way to an isolated spot near the kitchen. A large plastic garbage disposal unit sat in a hallway outside the cafeteria. When it was full, it would be rolled outside and hauled away by the trash company. Before entering the hallway, he removed a small device from his pocket and switched on the power. It would temporarily jam the signals of any nearby security cameras. He could not risk being caught on camera.

  On his way to Miami, Dr. Catalyst had stopped at a hardware store and purchased a few supplies. Now, hidden from view, he duct-taped an emergency road flare to a plastic bottle of lighter fluid. He pushed the garbage unit down the hallway, until it stood directly beneath an air-conditioning vent that fed into the hospital’s main ventilation system.

  It was now or never. Dr. Catalyst struck the flare head against the wall, and it burst into a bright, hissing flame. He tossed the burning bundle inside the garbage unit. The flare would burn down like a candle and the heat would eventually melt the plastic bottle, igniting the lighter fluid inside. Most of the garbage in the bin was plastic and paper, and would only produce smoke. But it would be enough to set off the alarm.

  Dr. Catalyst walked away, returning to the lobby and exiting the building. A few minutes later he pulled his police cruiser in front of the hospital and waited. He rolled the window down on the passenger side of the car and was soon rewarded by the shrieking fire alarm.

  Soon the evacuation began. Patients who could walk exited first, escorted by orderlies and nurses. Then came others, being pushed on gurneys and rolling hospital beds. Smoke filtered out of the ventilation system on the roof. The evacuation continued. Dr. Catalyst scanned the crowd, watching for his quarry.

  His patience paid off. Emmet and Calvin left the lobby, wearing bewildered expressions.