Dark Creations: The Hunted (Part 4) (13 page)

Gabriel sped out of the parking lot of Rory’s Bar.  He tested the engine of the small rental car as he tailed Jack for several blocks.  Following him was unnecessary though.  He knew exactly where Jack was headed and was not surprised when his pursuit ended outside the Santa Ynez Police Department.

“What the fuck is this guy doing?” Alexandra asked.

“Is he honestly going to go in there armed, like a crazy person, looking for two officers?” Melissa said.

“He’s not thinking straight,” Gabriel replied.

“No kidding, really?” Alexandra said sarcastically.  “What gave that one away, the fact that his pregnant wife was taken forcibly from his house by two cops, or the fact that he was getting his swerve on when we found him?”

“Knock it off, Alex.  This isn’t the time,” Melissa warned.

“What are we going to do?” Yoshi asked.

Gabriel was about to answer when he saw the driver’s side door of Jack’s pickup truck swing open.  He quickly climbed out of the car and sidled up alongside the truck.

“Jack, don’t do this,” he cautioned keeping his voice low.  “No one has seen you with that gun but there may be cameras.  Just stay in your truck.”

“Outta my way,” Jack growled.

“So you can do what, march into a police station with a loaded shotgun?”

“Someone in there knows where my wife and unborn child are.”

“You think they’re going to overlook that gun,” Gabriel said gesturing to Jack’s weapon on his lap.  “You go in there with that and,
if
you they let you live, you’ll be locked up for life.  Then what good would you be to your wife and baby?  You can’t help them if you’re in jail, or dead.”

Jack Downing stared at Gabriel for several seconds, all the while the muscles in his jaw tensed and flexed, before he grudgingly slid the gun to the passenger seat.

“I have to do
something
,” he said, his frustration obvious.

“You can, but not this.  The cops that you want, you don’t have to get them at the station.  We have their addresses.”

“You do?”

“Yes.  In fact, I have them right here in my pocket,” Gabriel said and patted his hip.  “They weren’t hard to find either.  We looked up their names on an Internet yellow pages site right after we saw them on the Santa Ynez Police Department’s official website.  But before you go there like a lunatic, there are some things you need to know.”

“Those bastards took my pregnant wife and you have their addresses.  That’s
all
I need to know.”

“No, trust me, there’s a lot more to this.”

“Like what?”

“Like things I can’t tell you in the middle of the street in the heart of town.”

Jack glowered at Gabriel again, as if attempting to assess his sincerity by boring a hole through his skull with his eyes alone and access his mind.  Gabriel did not flinch under the scrutinizing weight of Jack’s stare.  Instead, he focused on the likelihood that Jack’s wife was in mortal danger and that she needed both of them if she were to survive.  He wanted Jack to focus on that as well, willed him to do so, rather than work against him.  He gathered that Jack received his psychic message as his face relaxed slightly and he spoke.

“Get in,” Jack said.

Gabriel glanced back to the car and watched as Melissa waved nervously before he climbed into the truck.

“Listen, I’m going to tell you what’s going on but you’ve got to let me finish.”

“You can talk while we drive to the address you have,” Jack said and shifted the truck into gear.

Gabriel reached in to the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a piece of paper. 

“Here.  This is the address listed for one of them,” Gabriel said and looked to the rearview mirror.  He saw that Melissa had slid to the driver’s seat and was following behind them.  Her nearness to someone as volatile as Jack, combined with their destination, gave him a sick feeling inside.  None of it felt right.  She was continually in danger, perpetually at risk of losing her life, as long as she was with him.  And now, he was willingly taking her with him and an armed and desperate man to the home of one of Terzini’s newest creations.  He had no idea what modifications had been made to them, how dangerous they may be.  He worried they would be similar to Eugene. 

“Well, what do you have to tell me?” Jack demanded. 

“We’re fairly certain a geneticist named Dr. Franklin Terzini has been kidnapping pregnant women and attempting to alter their unborn babies.”

Jack looked at him with unreadable eyes then said, “Do I look like a fucking moron to you?”

“No, not at all,” Gabriel began.

“Then why are you telling me this horseshit?  That some doctor is stealing pregnant women to experiment on them?  Shit!  Nowadays, some women might do it if you paid them enough.”

“This is not a joke, man,” Gabriel shouted.  “If you don’t want to believe me, that’s your problem.  I’m just warning you because the men we’re going to see, the cops, they’re not
regular
people.”

“Of course they’re not regular!  They kidnapped my wife!”  Jack shouted back.

Gabriel was not sure what to do.  He had to tell Jack what they were up against, but resisted the idea of divulging the information he had.  He did not want to reveal his origins, the secret he concealed from the world with the exception two people.  He feared too many consequences to disclose everything.  Besides, he had no way of proving his claims anymore.  But now Jack
and
his wife and unborn child were in danger.  He would sound like a crazy person, but Jack needed to know.

“That’s not what I mean.  They’re more than your run-of-the-mill psychos, Jack.  They’re worse.  They’re stronger, and smarter; and deadly.  They’ve been changed by Terzini.  They’re not like you.  Their DNA has been altered.”

“Okay, whatever,” Jack patronized.  “And what are they, huh, super humans?  There’s no such thing.  Believe me I’ve seen enough shit to know.  I’ve been to hell.  So I know, we all bleed the same and we all die the same.  I’m sure I’ll be fine with these cops.”

“If you don’t believe me about Terzini or the cops, than why believe me about anything else?”

There was a brief period of silence before Jack responded.

“I just want my wife back.  And I recognized the guys that took her from the pictures you showed me.  That stuff was concrete.  This other stuff, it’s just crazy.  I’m not the type of guy who can be bullshitted, so enough.”

Dr. Terzini’s creations, his suspected hunt for pregnant women to conduct tests upon, all of it was undeniably crazy.  Gabriel’s reality was crazy.  It would be impossible for him to argue that point, particularly with someone as hardened as Sergeant Jack Downing.  Jack’s pregnant wife had been abducted.  There was nothing remotely
normal
about that, or anything that would happen in the immediate future.  Gabriel could only guess how ludicrous he sounded saying that the cops they were seeking were
not normal,
that they were genetically changed to be superior.  He struggled with the idea that not one, but two cops had assimilated so flawlessly into society that they held positions of authority within the community and were now doing their maker’s bidding.  Such an occurrence implied not only that creations had been in the making for some time and that Terzini had been working quietly, discreetly, since his disappearance from Harbingers Falls, but that the
normal
society once enjoyed was slowly being replaced with chaos.  They drove in silence for the remainder of the ride.  It wasn’t until they pulled in front of a small, ranch-style house that conversation of any kind resumed.

“I’m gonna do this,” Jack said more to himself.

“I’m going with you,” Gabriel said.

“Suit yourself,” Jack replied.

They both climbed out of the pickup truck.  But before they made their way to the house, Gabriel rushed to the rental car parked behind them.  Melissa lowered the window.

“I’m so worried Gabriel.  What are we supposed to do?”

“If we don’t come out, then worry.”

Melissa looked at him.  Her eyes were filled with tears.  He hated worrying her, hated putting her in harm’s way.  But he did not want to leave her behind, not again.  She was safer with him.  He had no idea what lurked beyond the seemingly average front door.  Exquisite monsters could be waiting for them, trained fiends prepared to act with the deadliest of force.  He did not know for sure, but past experience suggested that whoever or whatever was inside the house, would most certainly try to kill him.  He held her gaze.

“Be sure to come out then,” she said and wiped the tears that overflowed her eyes.  “I love you, Gabriel.”

“I love you too, Melissa.  Take care of them Yoshi, okay?”

“Always brother,” Yoshi affirmed.

Gabriel turned from the small car and walked toward Jack.  Jack gathered his gun and stuffed ammunition into his pants pockets then moved to the front door.  Gabriel rang the doorbell and waited, barely breathing, listening for sounds inside.  Footfalls could be heard beyond the entrance before the door opened and a man stood before them.  The man’s eyes widened.  Gabriel did not know if they widened in recognition of Jack, or fear of the enormous gun aimed at his chest.  Either way, the man stepped back slowly as Jack lowered the barrel, leveled it with his chest.  Each step that Jack took, the man retreated one in return and did not take his eyes from the gun inches from his heart.  Jack advanced until they were inside the house.  Gabriel shut the door behind him then turned just as Jack pressed past the foyer toward a darkened hallway, but as he was about to round the corner with the off-duty police officer, Gabriel thought he heard a shuffling sound.  He strained his eyes to see in the poorly lighted hallway when someone charged them. The person exploded from the shadows and held in his hand an object that was dark and tubular.  He raised the object over his head and swung at Jack.

“Look out!” Gabriel shouted.

But it was too late. A pipe landed against Jack’s head and he fell to the floor.  Gabriel rushed the pipe wielding man, was on him instantly.  He dropped his shoulder and slammed it into the man’s chest in hopes of knocking the wind from him and disorienting him long enough to get his weapon.  As he’d hoped, the force of the hit sent the man crashing into the wall behind him, and caused the object he held to fall to the floor below.  But being either unarmed or winded did not diminish the man’s abilities or render him defenseless.  His was on his feet with impossible speed and dexterity, and not the least bit breathless.  To the contrary, he seemed undeterred and ready to fight.  Then, with his teeth bared and his perfect features twisted maniacally, he charged at Gabriel. 

Gabriel was unsure of exactly what the man’s strategy was.  He just lunged like a madman.  Luckily, he did not know that Gabriel, like him, possessed enhancements and did not appear to anticipate the fist that hammered into his throat.   The blow made him stagger back before he fell to the ground, his face no longer contorted in anger but in pain.  Gabriel turned only to find the cop that had opened the door clutching his service revolver in both hands.   The cop smiled as he raised his arms and trained the muzzle on him. He was about to discharge his weapon when the sound of a shotgun blast filled the air.  Gabriel clutched his ears and squeezed his eyes shut reflexively then felt something warm and wet spray him.  His eyes snapped open and he saw the gaping hole in the man that had aimed his gun at him seconds earlier.  He looked down at his own shirt and saw that it was misted with gore then found Jack, who had regained command of his weapon, on the floor.

“You okay?” Jack asked.

“I, I think so,” Gabriel said feeling shock at the grisly scene unfolding.

He watched, in a dreamlike trance, as Jack rose to his feet with impossible coordination after being skulled by a pipe and collared the remaining man who still coughed and gasped.  He dragged him into the kitchen, but not before relieving the dead cop of the handcuffs that dangled from a loop of his uniform bottoms.  Gabriel had not noticed the uniform pants earlier, when the man had answered the door.  But surely, Jack had.  Jack seemed to know exactly what was needed and where to find it. 

“Cuff this asshole to this chair,” Jack ordered after he tossed the handcuffs to Gabriel then held the man’s hand behind the chair.

Gabriel did as he was told and within seconds, the man was cuffed to a straight-back wooden chair near the kitchen table.

“Where is my wife?” Jack screamed at the man, but did not get a verbal response.  Instead, the man smirked.

Enraged, Jack took the butt of his shotgun and slammed it into his jaw then asked again, “Where is my wife asshole?  I
know
you were the cop that took her.  I recognized that face as soon as I saw you.”

Gabriel knew that the whereabouts of Jack’s wife would never be disclosed by the police officer handcuffed to the kitchen chair.  There was no doubt in his mind that he was one of Terzini’s creations, that even if he wanted to tell Jack where his wife was, an ingrained edict prohibited him from doing so.  Each of Terzini’s creations was indoctrinated against rebellion.  Gabriel was very familiar with the effectiveness of the techniques his maker had utilized to guard himself against exposure.