The Price of Disrespect (Gray Spear Society Book 6) (38 page)

He continued crawling down the tunnel.

* * *

Tawni followed Aaron into a dimly lit laboratory full of electronic equipment. Gadgets crowded the shelves along the walls. She recognized the basic tools like pliers and wire cutters. She was even able to identify an oscilloscope, but the rest was beyond her.

An odor made her instantly nauseous. It smelled like rotten fish.

Aaron turned on a desk light. The scene in the room was so horrific Tawni's knees became weak.

Five security guards were lying on the floor, more or less. Some monster with incredible strength had torn them apart. Arms and legs had been ripped out of their sockets. One man's spine was halfway out of his back. It was hard to tell what parts had originally belonged to what bodies.

One of the corpses was in a condition that defied explanation. Its skin had deflated as if the guts had been sucked out by a giant mosquito. Black sludge oozed from the mouth and eye sockets. It looked like even some of the bones were missing. This was the source of the smell.

Tawni vomited onto the floor.

She wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "What the fuck happened here, sir?"

"Yvonne," Aaron said softly. "She had a little fun with the boys, followed by a quick meal. She's a hungry girl."

Tawni found it hard to comprehend. She would see Yvonne in an entirely different light the next time they met.

"I need you to do something for me." Aaron pointed at a door at the back of the room. "Some people are waiting to ambush us. I just heard them."

"I didn't hear anything."

"You don't know how to listen properly. Kill them."

"By myself?" Tawni raised her eyebrows.

Aaron nodded. "Impress me."

"Yes, sir."

She walked up to the door and pressed her ear against it. Her own breathing was too loud so she held her breath. She heard movement on the other side. Aaron was right again.

She stepped back to assess the situation. All the interior walls in this place were made of a single sheet of plywood or particle board. Bullets would pass straight through. The only problem was she didn't know where to shoot.

She looked around for something she could use. Her gaze settled on a small mirror among the tools, and she grabbed it. She drew a knife from a sheath strapped to her thigh. Now she just needed one more thing: a source of noise to cover her activities. She turned on a drill press, and it made a nice loud rattle.

She went to a corner and started carving a mouse hole in the wall. She pried away thin layers of wood with her knife. The drill press allowed her to work quickly without worrying too much about noise. When the hole was just big enough, she slipped the mirror through.

In the reflection, she saw three men in green uniforms. Two were on either side of the door, and the third was down on the floor. All three had their guns ready to shoot. Tawni stared at them until she had a solid mental picture of their locations.

She walked back and visualized her enemies on the other side of the wall. She drew her gun and fired three times.

Instead of opening the door, she returned to the mouse hole and used the mirror again. Two enemies were dead, but the one on the floor was just wounded. She placed her gun against the wall, adjusted her aim, and fired again. This bullet got him.

"All clear," she announced.

Aaron clapped politely. "Well done."

"Where did you find her?" Charles said.

Tawni looked around for the source of the voice. She was getting tired of his invisible man act.

"In an alley," Aaron said, "beating the shit out of some poor guy."

"You have a good eye for talent. The legate is going to like her a lot."

She frowned. "If you're going to talk about me, at least let me see you. That would be nice."

"I'm not invisible," Charles said.

"Yes, you are."

"Aaron can see me. The problem is yours, not mine."

"What do you mean?" Tawni said.

"He's on my right," Aaron said. "Just look really hard."

She stared at the spot beside him. For some reason, her eyes kept turning away. She refocused her attention again and again with greater annoyance each time. She was starting to understand Charles' strange gift. It wasn't that she couldn't see him. Some part of her brain just didn't want to.
Or is afraid to,
she thought.

Charles was definitely in front of her. She clenched her fists and forced her eyes to stay pointed in that direction. It was a tougher mental challenge than any test she had ever taken in school. The blood in her temples was throbbing. She finally caught a glimmer of an outline of him.

"I'm doing it!" she said. "I can see you a little. You're wearing some kind of rainbow robe."

"The Cloak of the Lord. Very impressive, especially for a new recruit. You have a great future ahead of you."

Tawni let herself relax. She rubbed her eyes.

Aaron suddenly fired his gun at the door. It opened and a man in a green uniform fell on the floor. He had been shot through the face.

"You missed one," Aaron said.

"Sorry, sir," Tawni said.

"We've wasted enough time here. Let's go."

He proceeded through the open doorway.

* * *

Smythe looked up at a long, metal ladder which led to a catwalk high in the air. The ladder was attached to a steel support post.

"That's what we need," he said. "A different perspective. Ladies first."

Odelia gave him a wry smile. "You just like looking at my butt."

She started climbing the ladder. He took a moment to admire her very fine ass before following her up.

They stepped onto the catwalk and looked around. From up here, they could see most of the structures inside the enormous factory. It looked like a shantytown built by a madman with poor carpentry skills. The layout was entirely random, and nothing was level or square. Walls arbitrarily divided up the space to create a clumsy maze. Plywood was the primary construction material, but there was plenty of sheet metal. Some rooms had no ceiling, allowing him to look inside from above.

Odelia pointed down. "Carlos!"

Smythe looked at the base of the ladder and saw Carlos starting to climb. About three quarters of his skin had grown back but random chunks were still missing. His hollow interior was visible. He looked like a piece of modern sculpture, except he was moving fast and full of homicidal rage.

Smythe knew escape was impossible. Carlos would simply outrun them on the long, straight catwalk. Guns and knives were useless against him.

Smythe still had grenades though. He grabbed one from his belt, pulled the pin, and dropped it down the ladder. The grenade fell through an opening in Carlos' shoulder into his dark interior. Carlos continued to climb.

Smythe huddled down and covered his face with his arms. The explosion knocked him off his feet. Shrapnel struck his body with painful force, but the body armor kept it from penetrating.

The catwalk shifted beneath him, and he desperately tried to grab a railing, but he was too slow. He slipped off. His stomach turned as he fell helplessly through the air, unsure of which way was up. He landed hard on his hip and heard a crunch. He could tell at once that he had suffered multiple fractures from the long fall.

"Smythe!" Odelia yelled.

She rushed down the ladder to join him.

Smythe propped himself up on one elbow. Pieces of Carlos were scattered across the floor, and they were flopping like fish. A hand was crawling towards an elbow. He would pull himself back together before long.

Odelia's body was already glowing brightly when she reached Smythe. She put her hands on his face and comforting warmth spread through him. He felt better immediately.

"I have broken bones," he said. "Right hip."

"Can you fix yourself?"

"I don't know. I've never tried. Help me straighten out."

She pulled his legs, causing sharp pain, but he didn't make a sound. His bones needed to be in the right position before he healed them. She pulled down his pants so he could reach the affected areas without going through body armor. His hip was already red and swollen.

"I'm ready," he said. "Give me plenty of juice."

She wrapped her arms around his chest. Her skin was so bright he had to squint against the glare. So much healing energy coursed through his body that he felt uncomfortably hot.

He reached into his own hip. It was a disorienting sensation, but he forced himself to stay focused. He found the broken bones and began to push them back into place.

"How are you doing?" she said.

"Pretty well," he said.

"I hate to hurry you, but Carlos is also doing pretty well. We only have a couple of minutes at best."

He concentrated. He molded his bones like chunks of clay to fuse them together. It wasn't his best work. When he had time later, he would smooth and shape the bones properly.

He sat up and saw that Carlos was mostly reassembled. His entire torso and head was a single piece now. Fortunately, the legs and arms were still detached.

Smythe got to his feet. His balance was off, and he realized one leg was slightly shorter than the other.
It was a rush job,
he thought,
but fixable.

He and Odelia ran off.

* * *

Norbert looked up at a giant, steel tank. It was labeled "WATER," but according to the information Wesley had extracted, it actually contained the control room.

"Careful. The guy told us it's electrified."

"I remember," Wesley said.

There was no obvious way to get in. The massive tank stood on steel supports with about three feet of open space underneath. It didn't even have a hatch.

Norbert looked around. Dust covered the smooth concrete floor, and their footprints were clearly visible. It gave him an idea.

He walked slowly around the tank, staring down. Eventually, he found a path through the dust that had seen a lot of foot traffic. That section of the floor was almost clean. He walked along the path until it ended at a vertical pipe big enough to conceal a ladder.

He tapped his foot as he considered his next step. He was afraid to touch the pipe.

Wesley walked over. "I'm surprised nobody is attacking us."

"Why?" Norbert looked at him.

"The enemy must know we're here." Wesley pointed at a surveillance camera mounted on a wall.

The lens was aimed directly at them.

"I noticed it's been getting quiet. I haven't heard any gunshots or explosions for a few minutes. I hope Smythe and Odelia are all right."

"I bet the protection team came for me."

"That would explain the silence," Norbert said. "Dead men aren't very noisy. If we could just turn off that jammer, we could find out what's going on."

He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. A guard was kneeling on a catwalk with a sniper rifle. He was aiming through a scope.

Norbert threw himself in front of Wesley. A bullet struck Norbert in the chest. He returned fire with his pistol. It took three shots to knock the sniper off the catwalk.

Norbert felt pain in his chest. The body armor had saved him again, but he was hurt.

"That bullet was meant for me," Wesley said. "Thank you."

"Is the prophesy fulfilled?" Norbert coughed. "I saved your life. Are we done?"

"Not done at all. You'll be my full-time guardian angel one day."

"What does that mean? I'll be on your protection team?" Norbert gently rubbed his sore chest. It felt like he had a cracked rib.

"You'll be the whole protection team," Wesley said. "But don't worry about it now. The twins still need you, at least until their project is done."

Norbert furrowed his brow. He was coming to the conclusion that Wesley's prophesies were intended to be annoying and cute rather than helpful. There was no useful information in them. It was a way for him to demonstrate his superiority over everybody else.

Norbert refocused his attention on the problem of getting inside the control room. His first task was dealing with the electric charge on the tank. He spotted a heavy chain lying in the corner and ran over to it. When he tried to pick up the chain, pain in his chest made him groan.

"Let me help you," Wesley said.

Working together, they wrapped one end of the chain around a steel post in the floor. They tossed the other end over a copper pipe connected to the tank.

A blue spark dazzled Norbert's eyes. The place where the chain touched the pipe glowed red, and he heard a hum. The pieces of metal were being welded together. Something popped loudly, and the hum stopped.

"Is it safe?" Wesley said.

"Only one way to be sure."

Norbert quickly brushed the tip of his finger against the tank. He jerked his hand back just in case, but he felt nothing. He touched the tank again with more confidence.

"Safe," he announced.

The next problem was getting into the pipe. There was probably a hidden latch or something, but he didn't want to waste time looking. He stuck a demolition charge onto the pipe. The explosive package was designed to breach stubborn doors.

He and Wesley ducked behind cover. The explosion echoed from the hard walls of the huge building. When Norbert lifted his head to look, he saw the pipe torn open.

He ran over and put his arm through the hole. He felt around until he discovered an interior handle. A hidden door popped open, and there was a ladder inside as expected.

It was difficult to climb with a broken rib, but Norbert put the pain out of his mind. Smythe would heal him later, if Smythe was still alive.

Norbert reached another door inside the pipe. It was made of solid steel and had an electronic keypad.

"They take security seriously here," he said. "I guess when you work in a building full of insanely violent people, you can't be too careful."

Wesley nodded.

Norbert had brought only one breaching package, but he did have another detonator and several grenades. He made a pile at the base of the door and set the timer for two minutes. He and Wesley hurried back down the ladder.

"I never get any training in demolitions," Wesley said. "The focus is always on martial arts."