Homecoming (32 page)

“What do you mean ‘Doomsday’ weapon?” Paul’s concern was not easily masked.

“Just as I stated. The original plans intended this device to be a weapon to kill all natural born supernatural creatures.”

Paul’s mouth fell open. “How could you allow such a device to ever see the light of day?”

“It was not an easy decision.” Rufus shut the door of the safe and spun the tumblers. “But after seeing how easily the Sicarii rose to power, I knew that one day such a weapon could easily be needed.”

“At the risk of us all?” Paul’s voice was near hysterics.

“
Non
.” Rufus held a hand to try to keep his brother from becoming too loud and attracting the attention of others. “Not at all. That is why I had it redesigned to be a
precision
instrument. To be fired like a gun. Point and shoot.”

Paul was now pacing, his head shaking vigorously. “No, this isn’t right. Think about it, brother. In the wrong hands…that thing could take out an entire
familia
. Remove the head and all created vampires under him go with him.”

Rufus nodded. “If the lore is true,
oui
, But I believe that part of the lore to be false. It would only be the first generation of directly created vampires.”

“Like that would matter?” Paul pleaded with his brother. “You could still be talking about potentially hundreds if not thousands of other lives.”

“That is why it will only be used on Lilith.” Rufus’ gaze bore directly into his brother. “She will be the only one to taste the effects of this weapon.”

Paul continued to shake his head. “How could you ever dream up such a monstrosity?”

“It was not I who designed it. I only developed it.”

“Regardless, how could you allow it?”

“It was a necessary evil.”

17

Mark noted the thermal readings from Mac’s helmet cam. He quickly pushed his chair from the console he was manning and punched in the commands on a neighboring keyboard to send a drone as backup for the five man crew. What first seemed as a quick and easy operation may have just turned into a shit storm.

“Somebody order up air support. Those thermals are huge,” Matt barked from his command chair.

“Already on it.” Mark mashed the enter button, knowing that the crews topside would have the drone airborne in moments. The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach tightened into a knot as he realized that it was entirely their fault for not planning this op through. “Reaper being prepped.”

“ETA?”

“Unconfirmed yet.” He rolled back to his station and punched up the commands to put the drone feed onscreen. “They’re about to launch.”

“It’s going to take at least an hour for that thing to reach them.” Matt was speaking more to himself than to anybody in the OPCOM. He keyed the coms, “Team Leader, we have a Reaper headed your way. You’re gonna have to hold those things until they show.”

“Copy that, OPCOM.”

“Do you have a visual yet?” Matt still had McKenzie’s helmet feed on the main screen and it was set for thermal. Making out specifics was nearly impossible with the swaying tree branches and thick foliage.

“Negative, sir. Just a lot of movement in the trees.”

Matt turned to Tufo. “Mark, make a note in that running logbook of yours.”

“What’s that, Colonel?”

“Something I want to add to my Christmas wish list. A stealth helicopter.”

Mark pulled his notebook from his breast pocket and scribbled in it. “Copy that, sir.”

Matt continued watching the screen and felt the color drain from his own face. “Holy…” He quickly turned to the logistics officer, “Do we have anything available at Barksdale? Anything we can get in the air
now
?”

“Negative, sir.” The logistics officer was scrolling through the list of possible airbases nearby.

“Why did they have to shut down the Chennault base? This is right in their back yard. Literally.”

“Colonel, we have a Predator that we can commandeer.” The logistics officer was quickly punching commands into his computer. “It’s at a Joint Reserve Base in New Orleans. A Naval Air Station just outside—”

“I don’t care if it’s the fuckin’ Boy Scouts. If they have an armed drone we can borrow, do it!” Matt turned quickly and nodded to Mark who was already on the horn while the logistics officer began patching their codes through to NAS JRB New Orleans. “Split lickety, Lieutenant.”

“On it, sir.”

Matt turned back to the screen and manually changed the screen from thermal to night vision. The images that came through and onto the big screen over his head made his blood run cold.

*****

Jack had finished sending the email to the operators that had volunteered to assist him and requested their early arrival. He asked them to show up a day early so that they could spend an extra day training with his own people and going over the plans he had laid out. He didn’t know exactly how to explain to them that during the operation he would be in his Halfling form and unable to directly communicate with them, but he knew that once they arrived and he went over the plan, they’d appreciate the extra day to go over the nuances of the plan.

He had just closed his laptop and was about to leave his office when his phone rang. Reaching for it, he never got a chance to say hello. “Jack! Are you alright?” Nadia’s voice sounded beyond concerned.

“I’m fine, sweetheart. What’s wrong? Are you okay? Is the baby alright?” Jack rounded his desk and sat back down. He knew this wouldn’t be a short call.

“I’ve had another vision, Jack. You were in danger.” He could hear the panic in her voice and being unable to hold her and calm her, he knew that she would easily work herself into a tizzy.

“Whoa, calm down a moment. What kind of vision? What exactly did you see?”

“You and the others, Jack. You were in extreme danger. From your own people. I saw it.”

“Hey, now…calm yourself, Nadia. What do you mean, ‘my own people’?” Now his curiosity was piqued.

“I saw your own people shooting at you, Jack!” Her voice cracked and she stifled a sob.

“Hey, easy there. My people? You mean the Lycans or the squads?” He tried his best to soothe her with the sound of his voice.

“Yes, the squads were…oh, Jack. The look in their eyes. They were so angry and…”

“Okay, honey, easy now,” Jack soothed. “You know as well as I do that my own people would never try to hurt me.”

“I
saw
it, Jack. It was real!” Her insistence took most of his argument from him. “Please tell me that you have nothing planned with your people?”

Jack exhaled long and hard into the phone. “Well…”

“No, Jack! You mustn’t!” Her voice went up an octave. “They will try to hurt you.”

“No, Nadia, I can’t believe that. My own people would never do such a thing.” His mind raced, but he couldn’t imagine how to convince her he was right.

“Jack, I know what I saw.”

“And I know my squad mates. They’d never do that. Besides, Nadia, it’s only a small handful of them coming to help me and Rufus. I really need their help.”

“Please, Jack…no.” She fought back the tears as she pulled the phone from her mouth.

“Nadia, I trust these guys with my life.”

“But do you trust them with mine? And your unborn child? Because that is exactly what you are doing now. If they turn on you as I have seen…”

Jack shuddered at the thought and felt his blood turn cold. “I’d never allow anybody to harm you, Nadia.”

“I know this, my love. Please, send them back. Do not allow them close to you.”

Jack mulled over her words as he considered how many times her visions had been right. He could only think of one time she had been wrong. Was he willing to risk all of their lives on her being wrong a second time?

*****

“Who all is aware of this ‘weapon’ of yours, brother?” Paul stared hard at Rufus as he placed the device securely away.

“As of now, only you and I.” Rufus spun the dial on the lock then placed a tapestry back in front of the safe. “And the engineers who actually put it together, of course.”

“Of course.” Paul fell into the chair across from him and watched him carefully. “You do realize that you’re playing with fire, don’t you? Actually, you’re playing with nuclear weapons. As far as natural born vampires are concerned, it may as well be a nuclear bomb.”

Rufus nodded knowingly as he took his seat across the table from him. “I understand your concerns, but you must understand that this is a necessary evil in order to…”

“It is
not
necessary!” Paul was back to his feet and pacing. “This super weapon of yours, if it falls into the wrong hands, we’re all doomed. Well, perhaps not
you
.”

Rufus gave him a hurtful and deadly stare. “That is not fair. I have no idea if the physician who turned me used natural born blood or not. I may well be a first generation offspring.”

“But I am most definitely a natural born.” Paul sat on the corner of the table and lowered his voice, his eyes furtively glancing about the study. “Is this just an elaborate ruse to be rid of me once and for ever?”

“
Sacrebleu
!
Non
!” Rufus quickly went to the door to check that none were within hearing range. “You of all people know that if I wanted you dead, I’d need no such device. As I have told you, this is for the creature, Lilith. That is all, nothing more, nothing less.”

“It would seem to me that we could find something more effective and less threatening to our own kind than a weapon of this nature.” Paul hung his head as images of scores of vampires falling to the polished steel weapon flashed through his mind. “I wish you would reconsider.”

“
Oui
, I would. But you should also consider that this weapon is viable against other natural born creatures as well. Not just vampires.”

Paul’s eyes slowly met his brothers and appeared to measure him. “How so?”

“This weapon is effective against ‘natural born’. Not just vampires.” Rufus smiled and patted his brother’s shoulder. “Wolves, elves, ogres, orcs...”

“All manner of natural born?” Paul asked expectantly.

“Within a small measure of reason,
oui
. There are some creatures that do not have the…whatever it is that makes the weapon effective.”

Paul continued to consider his brother’s words. “And how often do you have to recharge that thing?”

“It is powered by a radioactive core. It will last for many hundreds of years.”

“So, an inexhaustible fuel supply and a weapon that can destroy entire species?” Paul nodded to himself. “I can see why you might want such a weapon.”

“
Non
, I do not want it. It is a necessary evil, I assure you.”

“Potato, po-tah-to.”

Rufus lowered his voice once more. “Do not be flippant. As you have said, this would be a nuclear option for us.”

“Yet, you had it built.” Paul felt the corners of his mouth tightening against his will. “I’m thinking you had other designs in mind when you placed this order, no?”

Rufus sat back down and turned from his brother. “I can’t imagine what you mean.”

“Oh, come now, brother, you make a horrible liar.” Paul turned and pulled the crystal bottle of cognac from the tray. “With a weapon like this at your disposal, none would dare stand against you. Not even a
vampire council
.” He waited a moment while the words sunk in. “Nor the father of all wolves.”

Rufus watched him with hooded eyes as Paul placed the snifter in front of him. “I would never.”

“Of course you would.” Paul sat gingerly across from his brother, his realization of just how powerful he could be still settling into the recesses of his dark and twisted mind. “Whoever held such a weapon could demand that any and all fall to their knees before him.”

Rufus sighed softly and rubbed at his eyes. “That is not the purpose of—”

“Oh, I know it’s not the purpose,” Paul interrupted. “But you know the old saying? Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It’s not just a saying.” The smile he gave made Rufus’ stomach tighten into a knot.

*****

Laura did her best to sleep on the next leg of the flight. Mick had taken the newly refurbished plane to an even higher altitude in hopes of smoothing the ride and even Jennifer sat up front with her head lulled to the side. The steady drone of the engine had become white noise and combined with the darkness and gentle rocking of the plane, Laura found her eyelids growing heavier and heavier as the flight wore on.

She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what woke her. There was no sound that she was aware of. Her eyes slowly fluttered open in the darkened interior of the plane and she slowly took in her surroundings. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t move. She took in everything that was within eyesight though and assessed the situation. Mick continued manning the controls. Jennifer was still leaning against the starboard bulkhead, her head tilted at an odd angle, obviously sleeping. Yet, something seemed amiss.

Laura kept her breathing steady and her eyes constantly scanning. She finally noticed movement toward the front of the plane that didn’t seem ‘normal’ even though she wasn’t a trained pilot. Mick would cast quick glances toward Jennifer as his right hand punched a button on the dash. Laura had to shift her head slightly to see exactly what he was doing and prayed that he didn’t catch her movement from the back. She continued to watch him from the darkness and soon realized…he was punching a code. Morse code!

She watched as he punched in short and long sequences. Dots and dashes. Laura nearly panicked as she tried to remember the old code from her past. At one time she had the code drilled into her mind so intently, she thought she could write her life story using nothing but dots and dashes. Her eyes focused on his hand movements and her brain raced to recall the meaning.

.-- .. .-.. .-.. / .- .-. .-. .. ...- . / - --- -- --- .-. .-. --- .-- / .- -- .-.-.- / .--. .-.. . .- ... . / .- -.. ...- .. ... . .-.-.
-
to her faded memory read as: ‘will arrive tomorrow AM. Please advise.’ Laura’s mind raced as she considered who he could be signaling. Was he truly taking them to Brazil? Was he taking them to a different location? For what reason? Would he sell them out? Surely if he planned to do that, he could have just held them up at his place until Walter Simmons’ men arrived.

Laura struggled to keep her breathing under control as she considered her options. When it all came down to it, she was trapped in an aircraft that she couldn’t fly with shape-shifting people she wasn’t sure if she could trust or not, without a weapon to defend herself. Not exactly the best of circumstances.