Tears of No Return (30 page)

He hit a grocery store and loaded up on candy bars for Karen, still uneasy about sending her into the base, but The Murphy Unit considered her dead. Besides, he sold himself on the knowledge that he’d be waiting just outside the perimeter, making sure if anything went wrong, she wouldn’t be captured.

Morgan had two methods of termination, methods that would ensure Karen’s remains were destroyed. He didn’t want to think about that, and wasn’t sure he would even talk to her about it. It might be better if she didn’t know. He felt cold, dead inside. But he was sure it was a failsafe that she would approve of. He would have to decide by tonight whether or not to tell her.

Later that night, back at the house, he chose not to. If the time came, he would simply end Karen Lakemire’s life, and she wouldn’t see it coming.

Chapter 54

Morgan parked the Camero in the middle of Walter Road, flipped the hood up, and waited. Walter Road was far from a thoroughfare, with only a few passing cars, if any. He’d made sure to leave enough room for a regular sized vehicle to pass, but a big rig, like an oil tanker, wouldn’t be able to get by without him moving the car first.

Karen hid in the woods with Paul.

“Look,” Paul said. He was holding a syringe.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to bring it, but I figured I might as well. You never know, right?”

“Paul, what are you talking about?”

“I stole this from the lab when I took the blood for Morgan. It’s the experimental serum I mentioned. The scientists and I were working on it when they had Josh. It’s a compound designed to enhance the abilities of someone with the alien serum in their body. Someone like yourself. Since teaming up with you and Morgan, I began working on it again.”

Karen’s eyes widened in disbelief. She didn’t know what to say.

“I spent hours studying the compound and helped synthesize it. The serum contains genetically altered and enhanced proteins, as well as restructured nucleic acids.”

“Paul, why are you telling me this now?”

“I’m scared shitless, Karen.” He held it out to her. “Take it, but only use it as a last resort, because I really couldn’t tell you the effects it might have, long term or short.”

She stared at the needle, finally taking it into her hand. “What’s it going to do to me?”

“That’s just it,” Paul told her. “We don’t exactly know. The serum was never tested. Josh escaped before we had a chance to use it. But if all else fails…”

Karen understood. It was a last ditch effort should there need to be one. She had no intention of using the stuff, not unless all else failed.

“Get ready,” Morgan yelled. Karen and Paul looked to Morgan. “The truck is coming.”

She couldn’t hear anything yet, but with Morgan’s supernatural abilities, she knew it was true. A long minute later, the grumble of a powerful truck’s engine echoed in the distance. It grew louder, her heart rate increasing in speed as the truck neared. Then she saw it: the eighteen-wheeler, slowing as it neared Morgan and the Camaro. He came from around the hood of the car, walking slowly to the truck’s cab. The driver opened the big rig’s door, climbing halfway out.

“Stuck?” the driver asked.

“Yeah,” Morgan hollered back. “Broke down right in the middle of the road. Just died on me. I think it’s the battery.”

“Got cables?” the driver asked.

“Yes, I do.”

“I’ll pull as close to your car as I can.”

The truck’s engine growled to life as it crept up to the Camero. The driver, a small man, got out of the truck, leaving the door open and the engine running.

“Never jumped a car with a big rig before,” he said, chuckling. “Hope I don’t melt your engine.”

Karen dove into the man’s mind, searching for something she could use to break him. She found it; the practicing with Paul paid off. Pulling the horrid fear to the forefront of the man’s mind, she emerged from the tree line. The image was of his son, long dead from cancer but never forgotten, not even for a day. Her heart hitched in her chest. He seemed like a nice person; a man simply doing his job and delivering fuel.

The man—his name was Hank—dropped to his knees. Tears streamed down his cheeks. Reaching out, he said, “Billy, my boy.”

Much more and Hank would give up completely. “I need you to obey me,” she said. “I can continue to hurt you, or I can make the pain go away.”

Hank looked up at her. She heard his thoughts; how he hated her but would do anything if she’d take the torment away.

“Hank,” Karen said, standing in front of him. “Just do as I say and everything will be fine.”

He nodded, saliva dribbling from his mouth.

“Anything,” he muttered.

She released the fear, shoving it back down into the man’s mind. He would remember, but the immediate pain would be gone.

“I’m going to get into the truck with you,” she told him. “You’re going to take me on your next fill and do whatever I say. I’m your new partner, a trainee sent out with you to learn the fueling process. Understand?”

“Fine,” Hank said. “Just please, don’t hurt me.”

Karen looked into the man’s eyes. “He’s with us,” she told Morgan.

“Good,” he said. “You guys get in the truck and head onward. I’ll travel on foot through the woods, making sure I’m well out of camera range. But I’ll have you in view the entire time.”

Karen helped Hank to his feet. He shook her away. Maybe she could work on him, using suggestion during the ride. There wouldn’t be much time, but whatever she could do to help, she would.

Chapter 55

Karen’s blood pulsed with adrenaline. She was no longer in Hank’s head, wanting to conserve her strength. She doubted he would need any coercing after their little session. Hank, from what Karen had seen from him, was scared to death and more than willing to do whatever was asked of him. He simply wanted to make it back to his family. That could all change when the man was confronted by the guards at the Murphy gate, but she was ready, using her ability of suggestion to help Hank keep his mouth shut.

Hank downshifted as they neared the guard shack. The truck slowed. Karen didn’t think she could’ve been more nervous if someone was holding a gun to her head. She was entering the enemy’s realm. Fear gripped hold. It suddenly seemed so foolish that she was anywhere near the place, let alone willingly. Her gorge threatened to rise. She choked it down.

“Remember what we talked about,” she said.

“I’ll do as you asked, don’t worry.” He sounded sure of himself, allowing Karen to relax a bit.

Hank stopped the rig as a guard walked toward the truck.

From her vantage point, Karen was unable to keep the soldier in her sights when he approached the driver’s side of the vehicle. She tapped into Hank’s mind and listened.

He was frightened on the inside but maintained a composed expression for the guard’s benefit. “Hello,” Hank said through the open window.

“Afternoon,” the guard returned.

Three more guards exited the shack, each with machine guns hanging off of their shoulders. Two carried poles with large square mirrors on the end. The device reminded Karen of the mirrored tool that dentist’s used for seeing behind a patient’s teeth.

The guards began checking the truck’s undercarriage.

“Kill the engine, please,” the guard told Hank. “And I need the two of you to exit the vehicle.”

Karen stiffened. Hank had said nothing about having to leave the vehicle. Still connected with him, she saw that he was confused. He’d never been asked to perform such a task before.

“Something wrong?” Hank asked.

“New protocol,” the guard answered. “We’ve got to have a look inside all non-personnel vehicles entering the facility.”

Hank looked at her quizzically, and for a second, Karen worried he might freeze up.

“What’s up?” she asked, fully aware that Morgan’s escape had heightened security.

“We have to get out and let them have a look-see.”

Hank undid his seatbelt and climbed down.

Karen swallowed and was ready to slide along the seat and follow him when her door opened. She turned to see another guard hastening her exit.

“This way,” he told her.

She inwardly screamed. The guard was one Mike’s buddies from the bar. She quickly climbed down, hoping he wouldn’t recognize her.

“All yours,” she said, then connected with him.

The guard climbed into the truck, his mind switching from thoughts about her to his job. He wasn’t expecting to find anything, but took his job seriously and would perform a thorough search of the cab.

She disconnected with him, not wanting to seem concerned about what he was doing inside the truck. There was nothing to find, at least nothing about her plans to blow the place up. She had the phone-bomb in her pocket, and as long as Hank didn’t have anything suspicious, like a firearm or dope, they’d be okay.

The guard stepped down from the truck. “You’re good to go,” he told Karen, but remained focused on her. “Do I know you?”

“No. I’m new to the area.”

Karen went to go around him, but he stepped in front of her. “Where’re you from?”

Was this guy hitting on her? She wanted to connect to him, but she was too busy thinking about Hank. He was out of her sight and she had no idea what he was doing or saying or planning.

“Buffalo,” she answered quickly.

The guard in front of her chewed on his lower lip, a worrying tell.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Karen began, “but I have to get back to work. We have a full day of deliveries after this one.”

The guy frowned, then nodded. “Be my guest,” he said and moved aside.

Karen felt the man’s eyes on her ass as she climbed into the truck and was glad when she closed the door on him. To her relief, Hank was already inside. He smiled at her, but it was an uneasy expression. Turning the key in the ignition, the truck’s powerful engine roared to life.

Chapter 56

Morgan watched Karen climb back into the truck and drive onto the Murphy grounds. Three of the five guards returned to the shack, leaving two remaining in front of the now closed gate.

He was positioned behind a thick oak tree’s trunk, thirty feet away from the compound’s perimeter. If anything went down and he was needed, he was near enough to help. Tearing through the electric fence most likely wasn’t an option, but smashing through the guardhouse door and opening the gate would be. But he didn’t have to worry. Everything would be fine. He ground his teeth, still frustrated with the plan to send Karen in by herself, let alone at all.

Morgan shoved the thought aside and focused on the mission. Karen was inside and there was no turning back. He gripped the sniper rifle tighter, remained still, and, for the first time in a very long time, prayed.

Chapter 57

Karen stood a few feet away from Hank, who leaned against the tanker as fuel pumped into the compound. Filling the place’s fuel tanks was relatively easy: open the cap on the connection valve, connect the hose, and then pump in the gas by pulling down a lever.

Karen kept her hat on low and her head down. She couldn’t believe she was standing inside the Murphy compound, in the heart of the beast. She found it hard not to glance around, to look up at the guard towers, the fence, and the so-called barn.

“Don’t do that,” Hank told her.

“Do what?”

“Eye the place. Drivers are told specifically not to look around and to mind their business. Fill the tanks and leave. Plain and simple.”

Karen nodded and shifted to a casual stance. Thoughts of Paul and Morgan and the reunion that waited back at the house sustained her.

Hank lifted the shut-off lever, and the pump stilled. “Tank’s full,” he said, walking over to where the truck’s hose connected to a valve in the ground. Karen followed; feeling the phone press against her leg, reminding her that the moment was now.

Hank disconnected the hose and walked back to the truck, leaving Karen standing by the connection valves. She glanced around, slid her hand into her pocket to remove the cell-phone bomb. The front gate opened and three guards raced out of the shack, their weapons trained upon Karen.

Something was wrong.

A noise, like the opening of a heavy door, sounded. Then Hank’s arms went up. Behind her, the tanker truck stood like a wall. Even if she ran, she wouldn’t get far without running into an electric fence or bullets. She put her hands in the air. The soldiers assumed a semi-circle.

“Don’t move,” one of the soldiers bellowed.

Karen closed her eyes, certain the end of her life was near.

Chapter 58

Morgan watched the scene unfold. What the hell had gone wrong? Did they recognize Karen?

Murphy soldiers surrounded her and Hank.

Morgan glanced up at the guard towers. From what he had seen during his previous visits, the guards in the towers carried M-4 rifles. Now they were holding sniper rifles, all aimed at Karen.

Things had happened too quickly. There was no way he could do anything without risking Karen’s and Hank’s lives. Remaining neutral was not an option either; he couldn’t risk Karen getting captured.

General Krueger exited the barn, flanked by agent McKlintock and another soldier.

If Morgan made a move, he’d be cut down by sniper and machine gun fire. There was a chance he’d survive, but with so much fire power raining down on him it wasn’t likely, and then Karen would be taken alive. The Murphy Unit would have two of their most prized possessions. He couldn’t let that happen.

Morgan hefted the sniper rifle. He couldn’t risk her falling into Krueger’s hands. She was the poison that would bring down the world, change it forever and give the Murphy Unit power beyond imagination. The weapon’s steel cold against his flesh, he tracked Karen through the scope, a woman who had become a close friend. He saw quite clearly that she was frightened, her face pale.