Chimera - Part 1 (Asylum Chapter 20)

[Content Warning: strong language, violence, gore]

‘I got your calls, Jordan,’ Andrea said.

Deakes watched her for signs of her allegiance. She stood upright with a quiet air of authority. Her eyes flicked to them all in turn, her poker face giving away nothing. When her gaze landed on Eddie, her mouth moved into a tight smile.

‘Glad to see you’re okay,’ she said.

Eddie said nothing, only glared back. Dust was not as reticent.

‘I’ll fucking kill you,’ she screamed as she pounced.

Andrea jumped back, but not far enough to avoid the siren. Dust grabbed her lapels and yanked her down, simultaneously bringing her knee up into Andrea’s face. One of the soldiers by the helicopter sprinted forward. He swung his assault rifle over his shoulder and pulled out a sidearm. By the time Dust had pulled back her arm, fist clenched, the soldier was at her side with his gun at her head.

‘Stop, Ma’am,’ he commanded in an American accent.

Andrea wiped blood from a split lip. ‘Stand down, Corporal Tureaud,’ she said, then turned to Dust. ‘Jesus, what was that for?’

‘You took Eddie.’ Dust’s eyes narrowed. ‘I spent years looking for him. You even pretended to help, you fucking bitch. And you knew where he was all along.’

‘I swear to you, I have no idea where he’s been.’

‘I got a message from your phone,’ Eddie said, ‘leading me into an ambush.’

‘It wasn’t me.’

Deakes turned to Fletch. He didn’t need to voice the question.

Fletch shook his head. ‘Me neither. Zhu’s the tech guy. He could easily find a way to send a message masked under a different number.’

A storm raged behind Eddie’s eyes. ‘I don’t know which is more surprising, that I let that little fucker get the jump on me or that he had the balls to try.’

‘He was probably working on Harris’s orders,’ Fletch said. ‘It was Harris who ordered me to snatch Cruise and Martan.’

‘If that’s his real name,’ Deakes said.

Andrea cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. ‘You figured out the alias? I said you were one in a million.’

‘What alias?’ Pippa asked.

‘Thomas Richard Harris,’ Deakes said. ‘It’s obvious when you look for it. He’s been taunting us to our faces.’

‘Tom, Dick and Harry,’ Dust said. ‘Sly motherfucker.’

‘How long have you known?’ Deakes asked Andrea.

‘A couple of weeks. When Harris – or whoever he is – sent me to Portsmouth I suspected it was a ruse. When I’d finished there, I went back to the States to see if my investigation from last Christmas had developed any leads. That’s when I found out Harris is not his real name.

‘The Willow Creek branch of ARC provided personnel for us to capture and detain Harris. We’ve been working out of Harrogate to formulate a plan. Your impetuous actions forced our hand. And now we’re here.’

‘Too little, too late,’ said Pippa. ‘You should’ve been here a week ago. You could have saved Sloane’s life.’

Sorrow clouded Andrea’s eyes. ‘I’m sorry about Sloane.’

‘You can have Harris,’ Eddie said. ‘I’m only here to get Martan. Then we’re leaving this place for good.’

‘You can’t abandon the Asylum,’ Andrea said. ‘The cryptids need a refuge.’

As Cruise blew a raspberry, Deakes swept his arms to indicate the broken landscape. ‘Look around, Andrea,’ he said. ‘This isn’t the haven you thought it was. We need to get the cryptids away.’

‘It’s not the location, it’s the leadership,’ Andrea argued. ‘Once we seize Harris, we can set this place right again.’ She paused, then added, ‘Besides, where would you take them?’

*

Theo bounced in the passenger seat of the RAV4. Some of the kobaloi in the back giggled as though they were on a rollercoaster.

‘Slow down,’ Theo growled at Andre. ‘Are you trying to get us killed before we get there?’

‘As opposed to getting us killed after we get there?’

As one of the four kobaloi tall enough to drive, Andre had some sass about him when behind the wheel. Normally, Theo would take it in good humour. This time was different. Not only had Cruise put herself in danger but, by her absence, she was risking the safety of the whole clan.

He clutched the cloth-wrapped package on his lap, briefly wondering if he should use it on the defiant Sage.

*

When no one answered, Andrea said, ‘We can debate the future of the Asylum later. Right now, the priority is securing Harris.’ To the soldier she said, ‘Is your team ready, Corporal?’

Tureaud gave a curt nod, then beckoned to his comrades at the helicopter. They ran to his side, two men and a woman. As a unit, they entered the double doors.

‘Is a strike team really necessary?’ Deakes asked Andrea. ‘There could be civilians in there.’

‘They’re professionals.’ Andrea’s tone was confident. ‘The mission has been well planned, with the knowledge of the layout of the building and the likely location of the target.’

‘I’m not waiting out here like a fucktart,’ Eddie said and marched inside.

Andrea moved to stop him but was blocked by Dust.

‘If Martan’s in there, Eddie will get him. Don’t forget he’s a danger to your little toy soldiers.’

Deakes thought the siren was referring to Martan, but realised the statement probably applied to both him and Eddie.

‘Eddie’s not in the most rational of moods,’ he said. ‘You should be with him to talk sense into him.’

‘I don’t trust this bitch,’ Dust said without taking her eyes from Andrea.

‘I’ll go,’ Pippa said and disappeared inside.

‘Go with her Jordan,’ Dust said. ‘She’s just a vampire.’

In Deakes’s mind, the words ‘just’ and ‘vampire’ didn’t belong in the same sentence. But now that he understood Pippa’s ability – to draw out negative emotions – he knew that she would be vulnerable in a firefight. He didn’t have any supernatural talents of his own, but he had military training. He could predict the strike team’s actions to keep Pippa and Eddie from straying into harm’s way.

He glanced at Fletch. How genuine was the man’s change of demeanour? Once left alone with only Cruise and Dust, would he revert to his old self and pose a threat? The scowl on Cruise’s face told him that, should Fletch attempt something untoward, she was feisty enough to handle him.

He caught Pippa up in the lobby. ‘They went that way,’ she told him.

The door to which she pointed opened onto a corridor that led to Harris’s office. Deakes doubted he would be there. Fletch had said he had not seen Harris or Zhu for a few days. Beyond Harris’s office lay storerooms, a general office, a media room and kitchen. The way was then blocked by an Authorised Personnel Only door. Tureaud and his men would not find it a difficult obstacle to overcome – they had already bypassed the security on the entrance doors.

Deakes and Pippa hurried after the others, passed the open door to Harris’s empty room, and found Eddie in the main office. An old woman sat behind a desk, blinking rapidly at Eddie. Behind her stood two other women, one middle-aged and the other in her early twenties. All three shared a distinct family resemblance.

‘No, Clare,’ Eddie said, ‘I can’t explain right now. Just take your sisters and get away from here. If you can take any residents with you, please do.’

Clare opened her mouth to answer but Eddie was out the door and already heading deeper into the building.

‘Sisters?’ Deakes mused as he followed. He had assumed the women were three generations of the same family.

‘Norns,’ Pippa said with no further explanation.

They found the Authorised Personnel Only door open. The lock had been forced and was now useless. Ahead of them, the last of Tureaud’s team was disappearing into the passage which led to the basement. The Proof of Concept area. It stood to reason that if Martan was being held captive, it would be in the same cells in which Eddie had been detained.

They passed the windows overlooking the laboratory. Inside, two men were gazing at them and muttering to one another. Something Theo had said came back to Deakes.

‘Wait,’ he said, then stepped into the lab. He approached the man nearest a table of small pills and green and white bottles. The same bottles Harris produced at his tea ceremonies. ‘Why are you making artificial sweeteners?’

The scientist looked at Deakes as though he was speaking a different language.

Deakes pointed at the tablets. ‘What are these?’

‘Low dose benzodiazepines. Why are there armed men here?’

‘Benzodiazepines? What do they do?’

‘They look like mercenaries,’ the other man said. ‘What’s going on?’

Deakes ignored him, glaring at the first man. ‘What. Do. They. Do?’

‘They’re a central nervous system depressant,’ the scientist stammered. Deakes glared at him until he elaborated. ‘A mild sedative to slow down brain activity. They help violent cryptids fit into the Asylum peacefully.’

Deakes had yet to encounter a cryptid who was naturally violent. Yes, some of the non-humans were fearsome on sight but none had displayed any aggression. Even the pyrobrachininae, the fire-breathing bugs Eirini Papadimitriou had found in Peru, had only attacked when they had felt threatened. There was no need to medicate the cryptids.

Another use of the drug was to make the subject open to acquiescence. But slipping pills into somebody’s food or drink was risky at best. Much better to convince the victim to spike their own drink by pretending the drug was in fact a sweetening agent. No wonder Harris took his tea unsweetened.

A wave of repugnance washed over Deakes. He already knew Harris had broken any trust Deakes had in him, but now he felt violated. The man who claimed to be the leader and protector of ARC had forced his own will upon Deakes. How many countless other people and cryptids had he similarly abused?

With a heightened sense of urgency, he rejoined Eddie and Pippa and led them down to the basement. They ran along the service corridor and passed through the door marked Proof of Concept. The last time he had been here, Deakes had followed Harris and Zhu to the right, eventually coming upon Eddie’s cell. Footfalls to the left announced the soldiers had taken the other direction.

They followed the sounds along the curved passage. More cell doors dotted the inner curve of the corridor. After about a hundred yards, a solitary door stood open on the opposite wall. The strike team had already entered.

Inside, the room was tiled and smelled of disinfectant. A bank of computers took up the far wall. On the left, shelving and cupboards. The right-hand wall and the door it held were made entirely of glass. Deakes peered through at what appeared to be an operating theatre.

Two medical cots occupied the centre of the room though he struggled to see who lay on them. Tureaud’s team were in his line of sight. Each soldier had their weapon trained on a different target; two on each bed and the third on Dr Zhu. Tureaud himself stood close to the Chinese man, firing questions.

Zhu responded in Mandarin, repeating the same phrase over and over. A mocking smile twisted his face and condescension glistened in his eyes.

‘He keeps saying, “Too late,” sir,’ the female soldiers said.

Tureaud grabbed Zhu and shoved him against a wall, pinning him by the forearm. ‘I know you understand English,’ he snarled. ‘I’ll ask one more time. What is happening here?’

He retrieved his pistol and pressed the muzzle into Zhu’s palm. ‘First, I’m going to destroy this hand, then the other. Next, I’ll put a round in your right ankle, then the left. Your shins will be next. By that time you’ll be answering me, but maybe I’ll do your knees just for the hell of it.’

Deakes did not like Zhu but he wouldn’t condone torture. He sprang into the room. With the exception of Tureaud, the soldiers turned to look at him. The one who had been covering Zhu swung his weapon on Deakes. The patch on his left breast identified him as Schultz.

With the assault rifle pointed at him, Deakes’s heart hammered in his chest. His head swam and his legs felt like jelly. He raised his hands slowly, showing he was not a threat.

‘Jordan, is it?’ Schultz said. ‘You’re not needed here. Exit the building and wait for the all-clear.’

Eddie stepped from behind Deakes. Shultz’s eyes flicked between them but he held his rifle steady.

‘We’re not here to stop you,’ Eddie said. ‘We’re looking for my friend, then we’ll leave.’ He looked down at the nearest operating table and snorted.

Deakes dragged his eyes from the barrel of the gun and followed Eddie’s gaze. Harris lay beneath a sheet, face serene as though asleep. His chest moved softly and rhythmically.

On the other table was a man Deakes had never seen before. A leather blindfold was secured tightly over his eyes. Beneath his neck was something which appeared to be a long braid. Unlike hair, it didn’t taper to a point but ended with an edge so severe it suggested a sharp blade had been used.

‘Martan,’ Eddie thundered when he saw the man. He bounded to his friend, forcing the soldier pointing her gun at him to sidestep quickly. He yanked the blindfold away. Martan’s eyes were dull, staring at nothing.

Zhu said something different, which the female soldier translated. ‘He wasn’t strong enough for the… merger?’

The roar that escaped Eddie shuddered through the room. Deakes felt like a palm tree in the path of a hurricane. Even Tureaud turned his face from Zhu.

Eddie moved toward them, his eyes fixed on the Chinese man.

Tureaud took his gun from Zhu’s hand and pointed it at Eddie. ‘Stand down,’ he ordered.

From the tempest in Eddie’s eyes, Deakes knew there would be no stopping him. Pippa stepped forward, stopping when Shultz turned his rifle on her.

‘I’m gonna rip his fucking spine out,’ Eddie said, his tone as forceful as a tsunami.

‘Stand down,’ Tureaud shouted.

Eddie ignored him and raised his hands to reach for Zhu.

The gunshot was deafening in the small room.

Eddie fell backwards, his right cheek exploding in a torrent of blood.

‘Get them out of here,’ Tureaud commanded and returned the pistol to Zhu’s hand. The three soldiers spun on Deakes and Pippa, advancing and forcing them to retreat to the doorway. With their backs to the room, none of the strike team saw Harris sit up.

Zhu giggled, the sound high and unnerving.

Harris swung his legs from the table, surveyed the scene before him and smiled.

Then he unleashed the fires of hell.

* * *

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