Sword of Mercy (22 page)

“Give me the coordinates
,” Hawke
said.

Angus gave them to him. “
Ulric contacted
Radoff to coordinate security around the building in case the Liege
tries to leave. He sent several of his pack members to help. Ulric
and the rest of his pack will meet us at the farm, but won’t engage
until we give the word.”

“Have they prepared against the
tranquilizer?” Hawke asked.

“Yes, they seem to like the nasty shit. We
will be on the road in a few, just need to check out
something
.” He followed Chacal down the hall.

“See you later
.” Hawke
disconnected.

The area smelled different than the section
they’d been in before, something bitter to his senses hung in the
air. He tapped Chacal’s shoulder to get him to stop. Someone or
something was in this building that was not here the other day or
they hadn’t picked up on them. Chacal sensed it as well and looked
around.

Angus stepped to the side and inhaled. The
pungent odor stung his throat; he wiped his nose and cleared his
throat to rid it of the toxic smell. “
What do you think that
is
?”

Chacal shook his head and turned back the way
they had come. “
Too strong, my beast… he’s not… too
strong.
”

Angus agreed and followed, but glimpsed over
his shoulder down the hall toward that door. He stopped. Something
wasn’t right. They needed to know whatever stood behind that door.
He glanced at his chameleon bracelet, touched the wall to merge and
inched backward. The wall vibrated as he drew closer to the door.
Whatever hid behind these walls held an elusive scent, Angus
couldn’t determine if it were human, wolf or other. It was the
“other” category that disturbed him.

By the time he reached the door a low grade
hum filled the immediate area. Low rumbling sounds bled through the
cracks. What the hell was in there?

“Are you coming
?” Chacal asked through
their link.

“In a bit, I need to check this
out. Go ahead, I’ll catch up with you.”

“Go? Where? And leave you here
with whatever that is? La Patron will have my head.”

Angus didn’t want to point out Chacal had
already left him in the building, and remained quiet on that
score.

The door shuddered as if something hard hit it
from the opposite side trying to break free. Angus fell to the
floor and returned to his natural form. That seemed to make it
angry. Loud heavy thumps and thwacks like someone kicking on the
door resumed with more fervor it seemed. Guttural, inhuman sounds
made the hair stand on Angus’ shoulders.

Another thump and the door creaked on the
metal hinges. Another and a dent appeared in the middle of the
metal door. Angus took a couple steps back, bulked to his hybrid
and waited. Fist clenched, he wondered if he should alert Silas,
but nixed the idea since he had no idea what was coming.

“You need me
?” Chacal asked.

“No
.” Angus watched as another thump
made popped the top hinge. He took another step back as another
dent appeared in the door, with a loud sound. A few more hits and
it would open.

Bending forward with one foot slightly back,
arms and fingers loose, he watched as the door broke free from the
hinges and slammed against the wall. Dust billowed from the room
blinding him for a moment. The stench grew stronger and he jumped
on instinct as something, ran out the room and hit the opposite
wall. The room shook beneath the impact. Angus tried to see but the
dust was too thick. The growling sounds persisted. He moved to the
side and glanced into the room. A row of what appeared to be
incubators lined a wall.

A snort was the only warning he had before the
thing charged, barely missing him but hitting the back wall so hard
a shelf of glass beakers and jars hit the floor, breaking on
impact. A loud screeching sound filled the ear, so piercing Angus
covered his ears as his knees buckled.

“What the Goddess is that noise
?”
Chacal asked

“Don’t know. Looks like they left something
behind. I can’t get a good glimpse of it yet, too much dust
.”
He pushed away from the wall and watched the smoke waft toward the
ceiling. “
The chemicals are burning it
.”

“Can you save it?”

“Give me one reason why I should step into
that room. It looks like an experiment gone bad. From where I’m
standing whatever that thing is, it was left behind on
purpose
.” The screams turned to mewling sounds and the
movements slowed to an occasional arm swing. Angus leaned forward
to get a better look in the room and stepped back when the thing
growled. From where Angus stood, he could make out a row of razor
sharp teeth in a long snout and little else.

The agonizing whine continued from the thing
on the floor. Hearing footsteps, Angus looked over his shoulder at
Chacal. He stopped level with Angus and watched the thing writhe on
the floor, spreading more of the chemical on itself. The wretched
smell diminished with the opening of the door.

Chacal stuck his head inside the room, looked
around and stepped inside. The thing growled, but ended with a
whimper as it tried to move toward Chacal and couldn’t. Now that
the dust settled, Angus noticed a thick, long tube filled with some
type of powder on the ground near the door and realized the
creature had used it to get out. He stepped into the room. The
creature stopped. His eyes flicked toward Angus and their gazes
clashed.

Blue speckles dotted the skin of the animal
who was the size of a large Rottweiler with a malformed snout and
odd shaped head. Angus looked closer, the chemical had burned
through the animal’s skin, down to the bone. Metal gleamed in one
leg and bone in the others. The animal’s eyes didn’t blink, he
continued to stare at Angus.

“What the hell did they do to you?” he
murmured, looking at the padded feet of the, what dog? Miniature
wolf? He had no idea what the thing was, it looked like a
combination of things.

“Look at this,” Chacal called from the corner
of the room. He wore a heavy lab jacket, gloves and goggles. Angus
looked around, grabbed similar gear and walked toward
him.

“What you got?” he stared at the rod Chacal
held.

“They were cross breeding, nasty stuff.”
Chacal put the rod down and walked to a large incubator with the
sides broken out. “I think they left him here and took the others.
There are six of these, all held something, we don’t know what.”
Chacal toward the animal lying on the floor. “What do you think of
it?”

Angus looked at each incubator, and the
equipment surrounding it. Top notch, someone spent millions of
dollars here. Why walk away and leave it? The equipment alone would
be invaluable.

“It’s smart, recognized someone was near and
somehow used that tube to knock down the door.”

“Impossible,” Chacal said walking toward the
door. “How’d he hold onto it? Plus that tube is heavy.”

Angus moved closer, looked at the door, then
the animal, and then the tube. “How’d he knock that door off the
hinge?”

Chacal strode to the heavy metal door, bent
down, looked at the dent marks and then at the animal struggling to
breathe and then at the door again. “Body slammed into it. Probably
stood on top of the tube once or twice but whatever it is knocked a
solid steel door off the frame.”

Both of them stared at the creature for a few
minutes. This was more Hawke’s area, Angus couldn’t begin to guess
what was going on with the creature. But he needed to move out and
meet Hawke at the farm.

He pulled off the gear and dropped them across
one of the tables. “Matt and Passen would have a field day in
here.”

“What?”

“The doc’s back at the labs, this is the kind
of thing they dream about. Pity we can’t contain the area, now that
the door is down. Someone is probably returning for this stuff.” He
looked around and then back at the animal on the floor who
continued to stare at him.

“We gotta go.” He turned and left the room
with Chacal behind him. “See if you can pull up the layout from the
records of the farm, it’ll help knowing what’s inside.”

“This isn’t the states where everything goes
through planning and blueprints are followed exactly. Whatever I
find, if anything, has probably been modified without going through
proper channels.”

“Got it. But anything you can find will
help.”

Chacal pulled out his laptop and got to work.
They were driving down the long dirt road that led away from the
abandoned lab when Angus noticed a small dust cloud coming up
behind them. When he reached the main road, he stopped for oncoming
traffic and heard a low growl near the driver’s door.

“Don’t tell me,” Chacal said trying to see out
the window. “I thought it died. What is it doing?”

Angus turned onto the highway and looked in
the rear view mirror. “It’s following us. But it didn’t attack the
truck. That’s a good sign.”

They drove the next few miles in silence,
monitoring the beast. When Angus sped up, it did as well. It
maintained an even pace and never dropped back. Impressed, Angus
pulled into an abandoned petro station and opened the door.
Curious, he watched what now appeared to be the ugliest breed of
dog he had ever seen. The beast slowed from the trot and walked
near but didn’t come close as Angus stepped out. They stared at
each other for a few moments and Angus searched for a link with the
animal.

“I’m Angus, a wolf shifter. Can you
understand me
?”

The thing turned his head to the side,
continued watching him, but moved a few steps closer. “Okay, no
links, didn’t think so, but I had to try.” Angus reached forward to
touch its head and pulled back when the animal growled.

“I just wanted to touch to get a reading
with my bracelet, it won’t hurt
.” “Why am I speaking through a
link? Habit.”

“And there is a chance he understands some
things even if he cannot return communications with you. Keep
trying it can’t hurt,” Chacal said from inside the car.

Angus moved slowly while murmuring through the
link that he just wanted to touch, that’s all. The tingling
sensation from his link activated just as his fingertips brushed
the blue speckled head of the animal. He listened for a computer
chip and breathed a sigh of relief when he heard no mechanical
devices. Good, the Liege wasn’t using this animal. He stroked the
beast’s head a few times.

It purred and sat on its hind legs. Angus
delved deeper and searched for information on the origins of the
animal and learned nothing other than the beast was a part of the
Canidae family. But so were foxes, wolves, coyote, jackals, and
dogs. He scratched the animal’s head and stood. The animal stood as
well. The blue speckled plate wasn’t as obvious on the back and
sides as it was on the head. Thick muscular legs, short tail, wide
and long snout made this beast the weirdest looking animal Angus
had seen in his three hundred years.

“You need to make up your mind what you plan
to do with it, we need to go meet Hawke.”

“Yeah, I thought I’d be able to find out
something, but that didn’t work.” He moved to the door and the
beast jumped forward. Angus ducked and watched the animal hop into
the back seat.

Chacal remained frozen in place and didn’t
move.

“You didn’t stop it?” Angus looked at the
animal who returned his stare and then settled into the back seat
as if it were about to nap.

“No, I did not stop it. Not sure I could have
either. That animal knocked down a solid steel door. He likes you,
let’s hope that lasts. I’d hate to be in its way if it decided to
leave.”

“You going with me
?” Hawke asked as he
slid into the driver’s seat. The animal’s head lifted, he stared at
Hawke and then rested against the seat. “
I’ll take that as a
yes. No chewing or biting anything. I’ll get you something to eat
later
.”

The animal made a purring sound and Angus
smiled. “This could only happen to me on the way to take down the
Liege. Talk about timing.”

“I knew there was something at that lab, just
didn’t think it was… what is it?” Chacal glanced over his shoulder
at the beast.

“I’m not sure. They mixed him up with some
things, its got metal in one of its legs, and that blue metal on
its body. No camera, no computer chips.”

“What did they plan to do with it? How would
they control it without the chip?”

“Don’t know. Maybe they planned to come back
for him and do that later. I don’t think he’s wolf though.” Angus
shrugged and pulled onto the road.

“Those teeth? Did you see them?” Chacal
asked.

“Yes. But I think they’re engineered or
something. Can’t be too sure. Don’t want to get too close.” Angus
looked in the rear view mirror at the ugly beast and felt sorry for
it.

“What are you going to do with it? Can’t just
let it loose.” Chacal stared at him.

Angus looked at Chacal and smiled. “You need a
guard dog, some companionship.”