Sword of Mercy (8 page)

“Hawke?”

“One second. It’s cooling
.” He exhaled
as cool tingles surrounded the area. A few moments later he sat up
and rested his forehead in his palm without speaking.

Asia gasped.

Radoff moved to face him, both stared at his
chest. The pain eased a bit and he looked down. A miniature sword
was carved in his flesh like a tattoo. Amazed that it didn’t
disappear like most of his wounds, he continued to
stare.

“Well, that’s one way to do it,” Asia said and
sat in the chair next to him.

Chapter 8

Angus parked the truck in front of the
building and sighed. It looked abandoned, just as the others had.
Chacal stepped out the passenger side and closed the door. Angus
rechecked his notes, looked at the building and joined
Chacal.

“This one’s not as old as the others,” Chacal
said looking around. “Someone has been here recently.”

Angus nodded and tried to identify the scent.
“Human, maybe lab workers or custodians. Maybe we can get a clue
what’s been going on, or if we are lucky there will be someone we
can talk to, let’s check it out.” He walked down the overgrown path
toward what appeared to be the entrance. Once he cleared the large
columns, he noticed a large piece of wood covered the
opening.

“Wonder who put that there
?” he asked
Chacal through their link.

“Humans. The Liege don’t bother closing a
building after they leave
.”

Angus nodded and walked around the building.
If this was, like the other abandoned former work-sites, everything
that would connect the Liege would be erased.

A small village lay beyond the hill which was
highly unusual. “Let’s go talk to the people in that place. This is
the first Liege stronghold this close to a town. I’d like to hear
what they have to say.” He looked at the building again in
disappointment, so far they’d all been the same, abandoned with no
clues. Hopefully they’d learn something of value from the
locals.

Chacal nodded and they returned to their
vehicle and pulled off. “It’s not like the Liege to change the way
they operate and have a lab this close to people. Something’s
strange about this,” Angus said as he drove down the dirt road and
parked near the pub.

“True. Maybe that place dealt with their
legitimate businesses, if that had any. Or was an administration
only site,” Chacal said.

After taking a deep breath, he looked at his
friend. “I don’t smell anything but humans inside this place,
you?”

“That is true. But we will soon discover what
type of humans.” Chacal stepped out the truck and headed toward the
door of the small establishment without waiting for
Angus.

By the time Angus entered the bar, Chacal had
his hands wrapped around the throat of a tall, burly man whose face
grew redder by the second. No one interfered, so Angus took a seat
at the bar and ordered a beer.

The bartender wiped the glass with a
half-clean rag, filled it and placed it in front of him. “You with
him?” He tipped his chin toward Chacal.

Without turning Angus nodded and picked up his
glass.

“The first one’s on the house.” The bartender
grinned, showing a wide gap between his front teeth.

Sensing a story, Angus stared at the man.
“Why?”

“He’s a regular pain in the arse, that one.”
He looked over Angus’ shoulder with a smirk. “He had it coming, the
thief.”

“Thief? What does he steal?” Angus glanced
over his shoulder, although Chacal had already told him everything
was okay.

“Anything not tied down,” he spat and watched
Chacal walk the much larger man out the building with his hand
still on his neck.

“I’m going to question him,”
Chacal
said through their link.

“He tried to rob my friend? That was a big
mistake,” Angus said in a low voice and gauged the atmosphere of
the place.

A chair scraped the floor in the main area. A
young male in his late teens sat on the stool next to Angus and
nodded at the bartender. “What’re you and your friend looking for?”
His breath smelled sour, like stale beer and meat. Thin shouldered,
acne marks on his narrow face and a short pug nose, he glanced at
Angus and then looked away.

Angus turned aside and looked at him in the
mirror behind the bar. “What makes you think I’m looking for
anything?”

“He came in here looking for a fight, Harwg’s
stupid enough to give him one. But I saw the gleam in his eye, he
wanted information. I might be able to help you if the price is
right.”

Angus inhaled, filtered out the bad hygiene
and searched for the tart scent of deception. He smelled
none.

The male leaned close to his ear and
whispered. “You want information ‘bout LOBO don’t cha?”

Angus frowned. “What?” The name meant nothing
to him.

The male seemed surprised and looked at the
bartender who chuckled. “Well, if you didn’t come looking for
information ‘bout that large building up there, what were you
snooping around there for?”

“It’s for sale, we were looking to buy it. But
what are you talking about? What’s a LOBO?” Angus sensed both men
wanted to talk but wanted to make money if they could.

“I told ya,” the bartender said in a righteous
tone. “No one has heard of this thing you keep prattling about. It
is all in your mind.” He tapped his forehead and walked
off.

Angus took a sip of the beer and
waited.

“It’s not in my mind. I was there. I saw
them.” He looked behind him and lowered his voice. “That building
you thinking of buying did a lot of things to animals. Small dogs
or foxes I suppose. Anyway they called it LOBO. Can’t recall what
the first two letters stood for but the last two were big fancy
words. Behavior optimization, don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”
He snorted and took a long sip of his beer.

Angus watched the guy out the corner of his
eye, sensing movement in the back of the club he angled in his seat
to catch a glimpse of the man seated behind them. “Did they mess up
the building with the animals, because I don’t want to buy it if
it’s torn apart?”

“No…no. If it’s messed up now, it’s because of
the gypsies who live there different times of the year. They have
no respect for law or property. The building owners cleaned
everything out when they left. If I hadn’t…” he glanced at Angus
and then looked into his beer.

“What?” Angus sensed the guy was about to say
something important.

“Nothing, well it is something. Look, how much
would you pay to find out what was going on in that building? You
need to know before you buy it right?”

Angus rubbed his chin and stared at the young
man. “It depends on how valuable I think it is. Are you saying
something is wrong? That I’m being suckered into a bad deal?” His
voice rose a little at the end.

“Shhhh, keep it down. These guys are powerful
and there are ears everywhere. That’s why I want to get rid of
this.” He dropped his forehead into the palm of his hand and closed
his eyes. Angus sensed his genuine distress and decided to
push.

“Fifty US dollars.”

The guy looked at him wide-eyed.

“That’s how much I’ll pay you to tell me or
show me what you have that’s wrong or right with that building.”
Angus tipped his chin to the right.

The guy licked his lips and then glanced
around the almost empty room. “Okay, follow me to the loo, I’ll
give it to you then.”

“No. Follow me outside and then we walk
towards the building and you give it to me on the way. I have no
use for blank pages or useless prattle.”

Chacal walked inside at that moment and took a
seat at the table near the door. “
Loudmouth, poor hygiene, but
he knew nothing. They didn’t hire locals, and had nothing to do
with the villagers. Seems they stayed in that building for two
years and then moved.
”

“Tell your friend it’s okay to bring the
pages, so we can go,” Angus said softly taking a guess at the
identity of the male seated nearby.

“Fifty you say?”

Angus nodded but didn’t speak. Instead, he
told Chacal the gist of the conversation with the young man through
their link.

“LOBO, an acronym? How
original.
”

Angus watched the young guy lean back, and
toss a coin onto the bar. “Come on then,” he said, standing and
motioning to his friend who sat in the back of the bar.

“I’m going to see what this kid has in the
briefcase, monitor the bartender just in case he wants to get
involved
,” Angus told Chacal who stared at the
barkeep.

“Got it. Watch your back, I don’t smell
deceit, but you never know
.”

Angus followed the guy out the bar until they
reached his car. He leaned against it and waited. It took some time
for the other guy to arrive and when he did, he handed a roll of
leaves to the other guy and walked off.

In a few moments the leaves were removed and
Angus looked down at a stack of documents. L.O.B.O was stamped
across the front page.

“Fifty American dollars.”

Angus reached into his pocket and pulled out
three twenties. “Keep the change,” he said, taking the papers. The
young guy walked around the car and headed in the opposite
direction of his friend. Within seconds he disappeared into the
woods.

“We need to leave and verify this
information.”

“On my way. The barkeep’s nervous,
he keeps looking around like he’s expecting company.”

“You make him nervous. What’d you do to the
big guy
?” Angus unlocked the truck and stepped
inside.

“He’s sleeping
.”

Angus shook his head and read the first page
of the report. Liege Organized Behavior Optimization. “What the
hell?” he leaned forward and read through what appeared to be a
chapter of a training manual. He looked up when Chacal slid into
the passenger seat.

“Read this.” He slid the pages to his friend,
started the truck and pulled out with a u-turn. They needed to
research this immediately, which meant getting back to Chacal’s
compound, an hour and a half away.

By the time they reached the main highway,
Chacal had read through several pages without saying
anything.

“Is it as bad as I think?” Angus didn’t care
for what the name suggested and could imagine what the Liege would
call optimized behavior. On the other hand, this might be the break
they needed to find the bastards.

“Probably worse. On paper, it sounds
benevolent, as though the Liege is a large charity taking in
homeless strays and making their lives better. When the reality is
they train these pups to blindly obey their will, and deny their
wolf. And this is just one chapter. Imagine what the rest of it is
like.”

“Damn.” Angus slammed his palm against the
steering wheel and pulled onto the shoulder. “I need to read that
and make a report.” They exchanged seats and within moments were
back on the road. The more Angus read, the angrier he
became.

“Silas
?”

A few moments later Silas responded. “
Yeah?
You found something
?”

Angus explained what they’d discovered and
then listened as Silas called the Liege every foul and disgusting
name in the book.

“They are all those things and more, but
now we have a name and their objectives. They are taking pups
faster now, taking larger risks
.”

“That type project is not
happening in Russia, Europe or Africa, they are bringing them here
and training them here in the states somewhere. That’s why the
places you’re checking are closed and have been closed for a while.
They’re doing this bullshit on my turf. I’ll have Jacques begin a
search for any group or organization bringing in wolf pups into
this country. Now would be a good time to test the sincerity of the
Oval office, he said they’d work with me, and this is a top
priority.”

“I agree.” Angus looked out the window,
listening to Silas’ rant over the Liege and their operations.
“
Excuse me, what
?” He missed something.