A Phoenix Never Dies (Afterlife Book 6) Page 8

  Sarah was using the identity of a woman named McCalmon. Samuel was using that of a man named Astalone. Taking out the man and woman had been easy enough; Samuel had shifted to his bear form, and Sarah had disarmed them, and locked them in the backseat of a car. She was nice, though, and parked the car in the shade. She'd also left bottles of water and some snacks.

  She wasn't foolish enough to believe they wouldn't get out. Of course they'd get out. They might have already. But they didn't have their radios, phones, or any money. She'd also taken their shoes. The hope was that using their identities would get them enough of a scope of the place that by the time they were found out, they'd be finished and could retreat.

  Three grunts stood and saluted them as they scanned their ID cards. Sarah and Samuel gave a smart salute back and then went on their way.

  The mobile compound was set up similar to a prison; they could see that right away. It was sectioned off into quarters and those quarters had long corridors of rooms. They would have been better described as cells, though; from the empty ones they observed, there were bars on the windows, and triple deadlocks on the outside.

  They couldn't search through the rooms for Alec because they didn't have a key that would open the doors, and they didn't want to draw attention to themselves. Instead, they kept up a casual chat as they wound their way through the cell blocks. When they reached the fourth, they saw a tall, steel door with a small pane that could open up like a window.

  "What do you think is in there?" Sarah whispered.

  Samuel shook his head. "A high ranking prisoner? I don't know. It's probably important, though, don't you think?"

  "Yes," Sarah said. She reached forward and tried the door. She expected to find it locked, so when the handle turned in her hand, she let out a low hiss of surprise. Samuel quickly checked over his shoulder to make sure that nobody was watching. Nobody was.

  "Go on," he whispered.

  Sarah nodded and stepped into the room. It was a laboratory, but like none that she'd ever seen. There were also dozens of monitors, similar to Afterlife's back room, that showed different areas of the compound. There was also a five work benches that were home to hundreds of different vials of chemicals. There was a sanitizing station, and a metal chair that Sarah didn't like at all; it had manacles on the arm rests. She could easily imagine being stuck in that chair, her arms pinned down...

  Then she saw the small man standing there. He was watching them with a careful, shrewd expression. "What are you two doing here?"

  "Just checking on things," Samuel said.

  "You know my lab is off limits," the man said with an edge of irritation in his voice.

  "Well, yes," Samuel said, and shifted feet, looking at Sarah quickly.

  "We were told a prisoner had escaped," Sarah filled in. "We were told to check everywhere he might be hiding, and that includes your lab."

  The man shook his head, his irritation showing even more clearly on his face. "I've asked for them to stop being referred to as prisoners. They are not prisoners, they are patients. They are sick, and we are going to help them."

  "Of course," Sarah said. "My apologies."

  "It's fine," the man said. "Take your look around and then leave me. I'm working on very delicate formulas. I think that I might have discovered something..."

  Samuel and Sarah both nodded as he trailed off and turned back to the notebook he'd been scribbling in.

  They both walked around the lab, making it seem as though they were looking for an intruder. In reality, Sarah was actually using the time to catalog what she saw. It wasn't good; some of the compounds he'd created looked hot and dangerous.

  "Why don't you have security here?" Samuel asked suddenly, approaching the man again. "If you don't want to be disturbed, would it not be better to at least lock the door?"

  "You know how the general feels about that," the man said. "If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times. Brian, you're a contracted civilian, I'm your superior. Don't hide anything from me."

  Samuel and Sarah exchanged another glance.

  "Of course, he doesn't understand the fragility of the things I've been working on... no, as long as he gets his information, it doesn't matter to him what happens to the scores of men and women locked up here."

  Sarah cleared her throat. "I'm sorry," she said. "But what exactly is it that he needs information on?"

  Brian gave her a scathing look. "Don't they tell you anything anymore? He's looking for a way to weaponize it."

  "I'm sorry?"

  "Oh for God's sake," he said. "Have you two been asleep for the last few weeks? Everyone here knows what's going on. He won't admit it, but we know. He wants the ability to turn men into these creatures. Super soldiers."

  Sarah and Samuel stared at him, horrified. It was worse than either of them had thought. Brian was amused by their twin expressions.

  "Oh please," he said. "Don't look at me like that. It's been in the works for a long time. Phoenix is the perfect operating ground. We can take in many patients, and as long as we get him comprehensive lab work on their genetic makeup, we can continue to try and figure out an antidote."

  "There is no antidote," Sarah said. "There's no cure for someone who's a vampire."

  Brian glared at her.

  "I'm sorry, but it's true," she said.

  "Well, it won't be for long," Brian said. "I'm going to find out what it'll take to reverse the cellular mutations. There has to be a way."

  "It's a pipe dream," Samuel said harshly. "You can't fix them, and all you're doing here is helping a madman come up with a new super army. Do you know the kinds of things they'll do to their enemies? Can you imagine what they'll be spreading?"

  Brian looked momentarily ashamed, but then his smug, annoyed expression returned. "It's none of my business."

  "Considering you're the one who's helping him, I'd say it is your business," Sarah said. "You can't absolve yourself of the guilt on this. Thousands, maybe millions, of people will be killed and the deaths won't be pretty. Have you ever seen what a vampire does to a person he kills? And that's if he doesn't change them."

  "I know what it looks like," Brian snapped.

  "We should kill him," Samuel said to Sarah. "If he's the head scientist here and he dies, they go away."

  Brian sputtered. "You can't kill me!"

  "The general isn't here to stop us," Samuel said. He looked at Sarah again. "What do you think?"

  "I don't know," she said slowly. She didn't want to kill the man; she had killed two other humans once, and it had haunted her for a long time. It still did, as a matter of fact. And those men were about to kill Harper and Brittney. But... Samuel had a point. If the man died, there could be millions of lives saved.

  What was one man for the millions out there?

  Before she could make up her mind, a bone chilling scream filled the room. It echoed against the walls, and she could feel the hair on her arms standing on end. "What is that?"

  "That is AX2," Brian said quietly. "It is meant to stress your body beyond breaking point. My hope is that when the body undergoes a severe shock -- a painful shock -- the brain will try to reboot itself in order to escape the torture. If that happens, it may just cure the vampirism."

  "That's sick," Samuel said. "You're torturing them."

  "It is a necessary evil," Brian said. "You think I like it? No, I don't. I didn't become a scientist so I could do this? I didn't. But sometimes when we're going through options, only the bad ones are left."

  Sarah shook her head. "You have a choice," she said. "You don't have to do this. You're making a choice to do this, so don't try to assuage your guilt."

  Brian looked for a moment as though he might cry. Suddenly she knew she couldn't kill him. She didn't know why he was here helping this general with his master plan, but she didn't think it was by choice. Perhaps the general had taken his family. That would explain the circles under his eyes, the shabby looking clothing, and the slight odor raising off
of him. He was working himself to death.

  She put a hand on Samuel's arm. "We have to go," she said.

  "What?"

  "We've been here too long," she said.

  "But what about--"

  Sarah gave him a dark look, and he closed his mouth. Together they left the room and the scientist.

  "We should have killed him," Samuel said immediately. "I know you don't like the idea, but--"

  "But we lose a piece of ourselves every time we kill a human," Sarah said. "And when all the pieces are gone, we're going to be dry husks. No, we'll stop them, but not like that."

  Samuel met her gaze, and she was certain he was going to argue. He might just move past her and do the deed himself. And would she stop him? She didn't know.

  "Alright," he finally said. "But we need to finish looking around. Map the place out."

  "Right," Sarah said. "Let's do that before they sound the alarm."

  They stared at each other for another moment, and Sarah wasn't certain if Samuel was going to kiss her. In the end, he just nodded and turned, walking back the way they came.

  SIXTEEN

  Wren grabbed Chloe by the hand as she went to follow the others out of the room. She lingered with him, expecting some kind of lecture about going at all. She was still injured, he'd say. She shouldn't be on her feet. She knew it was the truth, but she didn't think she could stand the idea of being left behind.

  Chloe knew she couldn't join in on the assault, not if it was any time soon, but she wanted to be with the others as they watched over Jeffrey and Harper.

  "Chloe. I think we could be helpful in other ways," Wren said.

  Chloe blinked at him. "I don't know what you mean."

  "I mean, maybe Sarah and Samuel had the right idea, going off by themselves. I've been giving it a lot of thought and..."

  "They--"

  "--I know," Wren said, cutting her off. "They could have handled it better, right? That's what you're thinking, what you were going to say. Or maybe you were going to say we're a team, and that teams work together, not individually, but think of this. If they had told us what they were going to do, would we have stopped them? Would we have convinced them to wait it out like the rest of us are doing?"

  "I don't know," Chloe said.

  Wren nodded. "Exactly. We don't know what would have changed if they hadn't gone. Except they did go, and they did what was right. They would have been useless hanging back with us while Jeffrey and Harper do the investigation. At least they're doing something. That's what's important."

  Chloe frowned again. "Sure," she said. "That's true, I'll give you that. But what about when we go to storm the place when Alec gets out? We could have used their help on that part, but now they're gone, and we won't know what they're up to until they're back."

  "That's assuming Alec is in there."

  "He's there," Chloe said stubbornly. She still hadn't given up on the idea that Alec had been taken. The other possibility -- that he'd left them permanently -- wasn't to her liking so she refused to actually consider it. He'd never left them before...

  "Fine," Wren said. "You might be right. He could be in there. But there's a lot more of them that are there too, and we don't know what's happening to them. We need to find that out. Jeffrey can get a good look at the place on the way in, but he won't be any help to us once they discover he's a vampire and lock him up."

  "Yeah, but Harper can jump to another soldier or something," Chloe reminded him.

  Wren nodded. "That's true, but what we need is a hands-on approach. We need to get in there, ourselves, physically, and get a look around."

  "And how do you suppose we do that?" Chloe asked.

  "We say we're doctors," Wren said immediately. Chloe had the distinct feeling that he'd been planning this for some time. "We want to observe the vampires because we think we know something that might help."

  Chloe shook her head. "You really believe they'll fall for that?"

  "They won't have a choice," Wren said. "Don't forget, we're fairies. We have powers of our own."

  "Nothing like what the others have," Chloe said.

  "Perhaps not physically," Wren agreed. "But we don't have to fight them to get in. We just need to trick them, and I think you know that we can do that."

  Chloe considered for a moment. It was true that as a fairy, she had certain persuasive powers, but she hadn't used them in years. Conner and Alec always handled that end of things with the vampire hypnosis and the incubus charm.

  "I don't know, it didn't work for Conner," she said slowly. "I mean... maybe ours works differently. I know what you're thinking, but what if I can't do it?"

  "Why couldn't you?" Wren said. "You're one of the fey. We've been convincing people to do what we want for centuries if not longer."

  "I haven't used that particular power in a long time," Chloe said. "There was no need for it, so I just didn't."

  Wren shrugged. "That doesn't matter," he said. "It's not something you just forget, Chloe. It's not a muscle that will atrophy without use. It's like a bike, you never forget. You are as strong today as you were the last time you had to persuade someone of something."

  "The others won't like it," Chloe said.

  "Then we do what Sarah and Samuel did. We go on our own. We can leave them a letter or--"

  "--We're all leaving now," Chloe said. "They're probably already wondering what the hold up is. We can't just ditch them that easily."

  "We can say we're staying here," Wren said. "Nobody would question that, not in the state that you're in."

  "It feels wrong," Chloe said. "It feels too much like what Alec did... and then Sarah and Samuel. You know how everyone feels about it. They don't believe they should have gone. You're suggesting we do the exact same thing."

  Wren nodded. "I am, and I don't really like it either. But if we're going to stop whatever is happening here so you guys can get home and the people in Phoenix can get back to their lives, then we're going to have to do things we don't necessarily like."

  Chloe sighed. "This is your fault, you know," she said.

  Wren hung his head. "I know."

  "You should have stood up to Miriam," she continued. "If you all hadn't been set on building a vampire army, they wouldn't have changed so many people, and the military wouldn't have quarantined the whole damn town."

  "I know," he repeated, his voice high and defensive. "I know we made a mistake. It's something I'm going to live with for the rest of my life."

  "Which may not be too long if we get found out while pretending to be doctors," Chloe muttered.

  "Does that mean you're considering it?" Wren said hopefully.

  She shrugged. "Tell the others we're staying behind," she said. "I'm going to eat another sandwich and think about it."

  SEVENTEEN

  Brittney led the group to an abandoned farmhouse that was about a mile away from the military compound. There, they stopped and discussed what they were going to do.

  "Are you sure we're close enough?" Conner asked. "It would be our luck that Jeffrey would be taken, and Harper wouldn't be able to see through him."

  "I can do it," Harper said confidently.

  "You might believe that," Conner said. "But what if he gets there, and you can't? Then all of this would be for nothing, and Jeffrey would be just another prisoner. We don't want that to happen. For many reasons, not the least being that they might be torturing vampires in there."

  Brittney frowned. "I know it's a risk," she said. "But we can't get closer without getting caught. This is the closest building to the compound that's not under lock and key from the military. It's going to have to work."

  Conner sighed. Brittney could have happily strangled him. They finally had a plan, and Conner wanted to rain on the parade. She understood his concerns, but he didn't seem to grasp the fact that it was their only option.

  "Who's taking him?" Brittney asked.

  Everyone glanced at each other. Heather raised her hand. "I'll do it,"
she said.

  "Are you sure? If they recognize supernatural creatures, there's a chance they could see that you're a harpy, and they might decide to take you too."

  Heather shrugged. "If they do, they're in for a world of hurt. And even if they can subdue me and lock me up, it could give Harper a second pair of eyes. I don't think they will, though. They're interested in vampires, not supernatural creatures in general."

  "Well..." Brittney said. "Alright."

  "Come on," Heather said to Jeffrey. "No time like the present, right?"

  Jeffrey nodded. Brittney couldn't help but notice that he was trembling a little. She knew they couldn't call the mission off; too much relied on getting him inside the compound. Even if Alec wasn't there -- and she had her doubts -- they still needed to figure out a way to stop the military if they ever wanted to get home.

  Still, she felt a little bad about sending the young vampire into the lion's den. She had no idea if he would make it back out, or what might happen to him once they had him inside. They were taking vampires for a reason and she didn't think they were killing them.

  Heather and Jeffrey took off, leaving the rest of them alone.

  "Do you think he'll be alright?" Harper asked.

  "I don't know," Conner said, taking Harper's hand. "I hope so."

  "He'll be fine," Brittney said, though she wondered. She looked at Conner and Harper standing there holding hands, and wished that Chloe had come with them. Or at least Wren. She didn't like splitting up so completely.

  She had an thought, too, that Wren and Chloe weren't just planning on resting in the hotel room. She wondered if they'd formulated some kind of plan on their own that they didn't want the others to know about.

  Brittney understood why they would do this; everyone wanted to do the most they could to end the quarantine. She wished, though, that they had trusted the rest of them with whatever they were planning, if anything.

  She especially wished that Chloe had trusted her. She was her girlfriend, and she didn't appreciate being kept in the dark.

  "What now?" Harper asked.