Hybrid (51 page)

“We have a heat signature,” the analyst announced. The keyhole satellite platform had just cleared the horizon and turned every instrument it had on a twenty-five mile radius of eastern New Mexico; its infrared sensors had found a small gap in the cloud cover and downloaded the images to a ground station in North Carolina. “Small engine, probably a car. Give the computers a few more minutes and we’ll have a better image.” The senior analyst reviewed the live feed and agreed. It took less than a minute to relay the message to Ron Benedict.

“It’s either house nine or ten, that’s as precise as the techies can be,” he relayed to the agent on the scene. “Have him start there.” It had only taken two hours to transport Phil, Amanda, Greg, and an entire field support team to Clayton, New Mexico. Reisch was a hundred miles to the west, and everyone was hoping that he still had his claws retracted.

“The roads are clear,” the agent briefed Phil. “There’s a thunderstorm about seventy miles from here, but it’s moving north at twenty miles an hour, I doubt you’ll even see it, but it left the roads wet. Drive fast, but get there safely. We think that he may be in one of these two houses, and on the move,” he gave Phil a map with two red circles. “If he is, then he has to drive north along this road before he reaches Highway 58. If we’re right about Dallas, he should turn east and come right at you.”

Phil climbed into the unmarked police cruiser. Amanda opened the passenger door and sat down. “I thought you weren’t coming?” Phil asked, hoping that she had changed her mind. They both had very nearly mastered retracting their own claws, and he only felt anticipation in the air between them.

“I’m not,” she said and his heart fell. “Don’t try and be a hero, Phil. We don’t want a confrontation; otherwise, I’d be going. Draw him out, and then get the hell out of there. Twenty, thirty miles should do it. He should pick you up before you sense him, so when you feel him, use this police interceptor engine and put some distance between the two of you.”

“He’ll know it’s a trap,” Phil said. From the moment Amanda had suggested that they use Phil as bait, he saw the transparency of the plan. “You should just let me take care of him.” Phil had grown surprisingly confident in the force that was developing inside him. From a raw power standpoint, he was at least Amanda’s equal.

“Thinking like that will get you killed, Phillip Rucker. This isn’t about power,” she said answering his thoughts. “This is about harnessing the force and directing it, and right now, he can do that far better than you can.” Her tone was stern, almost angry. “He will know it’s a trap, but it’s one he won’t be able to resist. It will offend him greatly that you were sent instead of me; he’ll want to send a message, and if you approach him full of naïve bravado, he will send that message.”

Fully chastened, Phil nodded his head. “As soon as I can feel him, I’ll turn around. I sure hope I don’t run out of gas, or get a flat tire.” Phil tried to be funny.

Reisch smiled when he first felt the tickle that could only be the mind of Phillip Rucker. “So you survived after all,” he said to himself. He glanced over his shoulder for his ethereal companion, but Pushkin hadn’t shown himself in days.

They were still much too far apart for Klaus to read Phil, much less control him, but the very fact that he was here was a complication. He was driving in from the east, which meant that they had divined his plan; it probably also meant that Amanda was waiting for him to turn west.

He leaned forward and looked at the thick cloud cover. He wasn’t an expert on satellite surveillance, but he was fairly certain that the Americans didn’t have cameras that could see through miles of clouds. They must have found the stolen Au di.

“Damn,” he said to himself. He had meant to move it to the Theimes’, but old Elmer wasn’t much help, especially after he was dead. Klaus laughed. He wasn’t worried about the pathologist, or anyone who would have sent him. He could deal with all of them.

“Aren’t you getting tired of having to adapt your plans because of these irritating Americans?” Pushkin asked.

“I thought you had left for good.” Pushkin’s sudden and unexpected appearances usually irritated Reisch, but today he was glad to see the Russian.

“Why do you suppose they would send him after you?”

“It’s obviously a trap. I’m guessing that they want me to turn west into the lovely arms of Amanda Flynn, either that, or they have far too much faith in Dr. Rucker.”

“It’s a little too obvious for my liking.” Pushkin was always the voice of doubt and restraint. Reisch had grown up respecting the man, but could never understand this character flaw.

The rain had stopped and Klaus pushed the old pickup to its limit, which was just over the legal limit. He reached Highway 58 and had to make a decision, turn east, kill Rucker and face what waited behind him, or do what they wanted and turn west. He let the truck idle at the intersection and turned his mind west.

“Ah, there you are Amanda.” She had shut down her mind, but this close, she could never fully hide from him. Twice they had shared a mind, and he would always be able to find her. “It’s not a bad plan,” he said to Pushkin. “Only one road for me to take, and they have both ends covered. It’s too bad I’m not going to play nice.” He turned the wheel and the truck to the east. With Amanda accounted for, Phil and the entire U.S. Army posed no real threat to him.

“Make it fast; this pig of a truck couldn’t outrun a snake.” Reisch looked at Pushkin. “It’s a Russian expression.”

“Snakes don’t run, they slither.”

“It loses something in translation. Pay attention.”

Rucker was about fifty miles away, but the distance was closing at a rate of two miles a minute. Amanda was almost as far away, and once he had turned away from her, she began to give chase and was slowly closing the distance. “She’s at least forty-five minutes behind me, and if she gets too close, I can always slow her down.”

There was no sense trying to hide anymore, so Klaus unreeled his mind. Aside from his two friends, no one was within reach. No army laying in wait; no air force waiting to blow him apart with a smart missile; just the three of them. He focused on Phil, his most immediate threat. Rucker’s heart was racing almost as fast as his car, but his mind was frustratingly closed. He would need to close the distance before he could concentrate enough mental energy to break through Phil’s pathetic defenses. It really was offensive that they would send a neophyte to draw him out. Did anyone seriously believe that he would be threatened by Phillip Rucker? He was little more than a speed bump.

“Maybe it’s a suicide mission?” Pushkin offered.

“Could be, or maybe this is Amanda’s way of getting rid of Rucker. Given time, I could see him being a threat to her supremacy. I wish I had a little more time, I could use him.” Reisch began to calculate how much time he would need to convert Phil, and how fast Amanda was closing the distance. “Pity,” he said. Phil would have to die, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy himself.

Phil could feel the German’s attempt to control him, but the separation made the efforts weak and he easily resisted them. It was time to turn back; he had done his job; Reisch had shown himself. But he still drove on. Reisch drew him on, not the German himself, but his very existence. A little closer and he could reach into Reisch’s mind and destroy it.

A blood lust unlike anything he had ever felt overwhelmed reason. Power surged through him as he saw Reisch in his mind’s eye twisting in agony as his body was slowly torn apart. He could do it; all he needed was a few more minutes. Amanda would be proud.

No, she wouldn’t
, the long-lost small voice had returned.
She will think that you were a fool for getting yourself killed
and undoing their best opportunity to stop this madman.

Phil tried to ignore the voice, but like the rest of him, it had grown as well. He slowed the cruiser and turned around.

Now she’ll be proud
, the small voice said.

“Why?” Reisch asked himself and Pushkin.

“Curious,” was his only answer.

Phil had turned around and was racing away at twice Reisch’s speed. There was no way he could reach Phil now. “Cowardice? Second thoughts? A logical response to an overwhelming threat?” He reached back and found Amanda closing as fast as her car would go. It made no sense.

“Turn around, I don’t like this at all,” cautious Pushkin said, a note of panic in his voice. Reisch slowed the truck and let it coast down the long straight road. Amanda’s car began to coast as well.

“They expect me to turn around. She wants me to come to her.” Indecision crawled into Klaus’s mind. He could feel Amanda now; she was cool and confident, but still too far away to be a threat or an opportunity.

Phil continued to drive, but the farther he got from Reisch the worse he felt. Amanda didn’t understand what he had become. It was true that he was new to this, and she had seven years of experience, but by her own admission, she wasn’t an expert. All she had to draw on were her own experiences, which were clearly different from his. His mind had been much more powerful than hers before their infections, and it was only reasonable that after their infections he would be stronger still. She treated him like a fool, and he resented it greatly. His foot slipped off the accelerator, and he began to seethe. He didn’t care if she was proud of him or not.

Anger began to pulse inside him, and the car slowed to a stop. Reisch had stopped as well, and for the first time he picked up Amanda’s presence. She was west of Reisch and waiting for him to turn around. She wanted to kill him. It was all right for Phil to flush Reisch out, but not all right for him to kill the German. That pleasure belonged to Amanda. Resentment began to mix with anger, and he turned the cruiser around.

“To hell with that,” he said and hit the accelerator. The car leapt forward as all four hundred and forty horses started streaking back towards Reisch. The blood lust returned, and he could feel its energy in every cell of his body. For the first time in his life, he began to giggle with enthusiasm. He was getting closer to Reisch, and he began to tingle all over, and even that felt wonderful. He was more alive than he had ever been. Sparks began to snap loudly in the dashboard and Phil laughed. The radio shorted out in a haze of blue smoke and before Phil could react the car lurched and died.