Prodigal (Asylum Chapter 19)

[Content Warning: strong language]

The delicate breath that graced Deakes’s cheek was warm, yet it chilled his soul. The sound of sobbing reached his ears and he was surprised that it was not only Pippa’s tears which rent the air.

‘She’s gone,’ the vampire croaked. The blood at her temple was forgotten, the wound superficial.

Deakes could not find words to console Pippa, nor to express his loss. At the end, Sloane had been his strongest ally. With her gone, he was alone.

A grunt behind them signalled Eddie's arrival. Deakes turned and saw the man hobbling on his injured leg. His face was pale, his sagging shoulders displaying his weariness. Yet fire raged in his eyes, threatening a storm from which Thor himself would shelter. His mouth opened and closed but he was too weak to speak.

With Pippa’s assistance, Deakes guided the barely conscious Eddie into the one working Land Rover. The giant centipede had trashed the vehicle Eddie and the vampires had used but Deakes’s remained largely unscathed.

Leaving Pippa on the backseat with Eddie, Deakes returned to Sloane. He lifted her body, carried her to the car and reverently lowered her into the cargo space. The effort aggravated the ache in his chest. The pain sustained from being slammed into the steering wheel had been dampened by the shock of losing Sloane. He ground his teeth to push it down and, in solemn silence, drove to the main building. Two kobaloi were waiting outside. Jaq was holding her injured brother, Gil, upright. Deakes got out and helped them into the car.

‘Where’s Theo?’ he asked.

‘Here.’

Deakes turned at the voice. The kobaloi leader stood by the entrance. To Deakes’s surprise, Cruise was at his side. His relief to see that she was unharmed was marred by the knowledge that somebody at ARC had been responsible for her abduction, after all. Could it have been Andrea, as Theo suspected? Eddie had accused her of ensnaring him; there appeared to be a pattern.

Thoughts of proving her innocence – or accepting her as the traitor – would have to wait. Right now, he just needed to get them all away.

He climbed behind the wheel, Theo beside him and Cruise in the back, and drove them out of the valley. Hunter had resumed his position as the Asylum’s sentinel. The troll’s face was grim. He watched them leave without a word.

The mood remained dour as they traversed the rough scrubland to the paved road that cut through the Yorkshire Moors. Only when they reached Hutton-le-Hole did they speak again, and then only in sombre tones and to discuss their immediate plans.

Deakes said he would drive the kobaloi home in his own car. Pippa agreed to follow them in the Land Rover.

‘I’ll travel with you,’ Cruise said to Pippa. Theo argued but, when Cruise pointed out that the vampire would be driving with only her dead friend and a near-comatose Eddie for company, he backed down.

*

Upon reaching the kobaloi home, Deakes was not surprised to see Dust waiting for them. He knew that Sloane had called the siren once Eddie had been found and he guessed Pippa had messaged her enroute to inform her of their destination.

The man at her side was an unexpected but welcome sight. No sooner was Deakes out of the car, Harland Benson had him wrapped in a bear hug.

‘What mess have you got us into now, Ten?’ Benson asked, using the army nickname.

Deakes winced and extracted himself from Benson. ‘How did…’ he started, each breath delivering a stabbing pain to his ribs, ‘…did you find this place?’

‘Best damned tracker in the British Army,’ Benson answered, as though it were explanation enough. His eyebrows had furrowed at Deakes’s obvious discomfort. ‘Let’s get you inside and get that injury seen to.’

‘I need you to do something first.’ Deakes told him about Sloane’s body in the Rover. ‘Bring her inside. Subtly.’

Benson did not react in shock or repulsion. He merely nodded and casually lifted Sloane from the vehicle. He spoke to her as he carried her inside – if anybody saw or overheard, they would have the impression she was black-out drunk.

Once inside, Jaq guided Gil upstairs with Cruise’s help while Theo led the others into the main downstairs room. Deakes had trouble associating the apparent hovel with the term ‘living room’. Eddie was placed onto one of the dirty mattresses while Dust tended to him. Pippa sank down next to them, her back to the wall as she stared at nothing. Benson rested Sloane onto another mattress and drew a sheet over her.

A gaggle of curious kobaloi peered through the doorless opening. Theo barked orders at them, instructing them to prepare for evacuation.

Deakes stood in the centre of the room, looking around at the fallen and the injured. Though only he, Eddie and Pippa had suffered physical wounds, defeat hung in the air. The encounter with POC-17 had taken its toll on them, but the greater damage had been the revelation that the Asylum was not as pure as it had once appeared. A hidden valley used as refuge for non-humans had seemed a good thing. Now that it had cost the life of a cryptid – a friend – he no longer viewed it as the sanctuary it purported to be.

To make matters worse, Deakes was not certain where the root of the problem lay. Andrea was accused of orchestrating both Eddie and Cruise’s imprisonment. Harris and Zhu had admitted to running the hybrid experiment which led to the creation of POC-17. Then there was Fletch. Although there was nothing directly linking him to any obstacle, he was innately unlikeable. Deakes wondered if he could trust any of the people he once considered colleagues.

Benson came to him, told him to remove his t-shirt then pressed his fingers over Deakes’s chest. Deakes clenched his teeth to keep from crying out.

‘I don’t think you’ve broken anything,’ Benson said. ‘You should get an x-ray to be sure.’

Deakes started to don his t-shirt but stopped when the pain flared up. He took a ragged breath and said, ‘It will have to wait. I have to go back. There are more cryptids that need protecting.’

‘What help are you going to be when you can’t even dress yourself?’

‘Soldier boy is right.’ Dust looked up at them, a scowl twisting her face. ‘Besides, they’ll all be safe once I find out who did this to Eddie. I’ll rip their fucking throat out.’

‘It wasn’t a who,’ Deakes told her, ‘it was a what. An experiment gone wrong. And it’s dead now. Hunter pulverised it.’

Theo gave his customary raspberry before saying, ‘What makes you think it went wrong? I saw the cells. They’re making dozens of monsters.’

‘All the more reason I need to get the residents out of there.’

Eddie tried to push himself up. ‘You can’t go alone,’ he groaned.

Dust eased him back onto the mattress. ‘You’re not going anywhere for a few days.’

‘None of you can stay here,’ Theo said. ‘I don’t care where you go as long as you’re out of here before we leave.’

Everyone began talking at once and the room devolved into madness. Eddie weakly insisted he had the energy to return to the Asylum. Dust told him he was a fool, and said the same to Deakes. Theo announced he wouldn’t risk any of them following the kobaloi to their new home.

The sound of clanging metal came from the doorway. Cruise stood on the threshold, banging her bracelets together. Theo was the first to fall silent. The rest soon followed.

Once she had everybody's attention, Cruise said, ‘There appears to be a great deal that we need to discuss. And we can't do it if we’re hollering over each other.’

*

Though he was still uncertain what a kobaloi was, Benson had learned enough to know they were not children. The figure in the doorway appeared to be four or five years old yet she commanded her audience with an easy authority.

Her first proclamation was to contradict Theo, much to the elder kobaloi’s obvious frustration. He may be the leader in title but it was clear Cruise held more power.

She then invited the party upstairs where the pretence of dilapidation was not maintained. Benson, Deakes, Eddie, Dust and Pippa were shown into a well-furnished room. Comfortable sofas and a large desk sat under soft lighting. An old broadsword was mounted on the wall opposite the door, surrounded by New Age nonsensical designs; triangles, swirls, stylised runes.

Cruise perched herself against the desk and said, ‘Those of you who are injured will stay here until you are healed.’ Theo made to argue. She cut him off with a glare. ‘We may not know much, but we know there is a problem at the Asylum. The problem could claim us individually or we can band together and prove to be… troublesome.’

Benson couldn’t supress a chuckle.

‘Do we even know what this problem is?’ he asked, looking around.

‘Andrea,’ Theo said without missing a beat and causing Cruise to roll her eyes.

‘She is secondary,’ Eddie growled. His voice was low yet still managed to crash over them like thunder. ‘I need to get Martan out of there.’

‘There’s more to it than just Andrea,’ Deakes said. ‘If she even is involved, Harris and Zhu are aware of the… what did he call it? “Splicing of genes.” They are the ones behind the Proof of Concept experiments.’

All these names were new to Benson. He listened and registered them, waiting for the one name he had learned from Flash.

‘I didn’t believe Harris’s story,’ Theo said. ‘Splicing genes to help non-humans survive in the world? He’s up to something more, I know it.’

‘You drank the tea,’ Deakes said. ‘It promotes truthfulness so I think we can believe everything that was said.’

‘That God-awful tea,’ Pippa commented. ‘It was vile.’

‘That’s why we had the sweeteners,’ Deakes said.

‘That’s another thing,’ Theo snapped. ‘Why are they manufactured onsite?’

‘What do you mean?’ Deakes asked.

‘I saw them when I was looking for Cruise. Someone in the lab was making them and filling up those little bottles Harris carries around.’

‘It seems to me,’ Benson said to the room in general, ‘you have more questions than answers. Before we can devise any kind of strategy, we need a recon. I can organise that while you all get some much needed R&R.’

*

When they had left Cruise’s room, Benson spoke to Deakes privately. He asked why the Asylum’s leader had not been discussed.

Deakes cast his mind back, then said, ‘I mentioned Harris.’

‘Not him,’ Benson said with a shake of his head. ‘I mean the head of the operation, Scott Goodyear.’

Deakes’s forehead creased. He had known Harris for over a year. There was no one above him.

‘Harris is the lead,’ he said. ‘I’ve never heard of this Goodyear before.’

‘Something’s not adding up.’

‘Add it to the list,’ Deakes replied.

‘Is Harris a first name or surname?’

‘Surname. Thomas Harris.’

‘Does he have a middle name?’

Deakes recalled the nameplate on Harris’s desk. ‘Richard.’

‘I’ll get Flash to dig around, see what he can find.’

‘What are you going to do?’ Deakes asked.

‘Get in touch with the old squad and see who fancies a field trip. You stay here and rest up. I’ll be back in a fortnight.’

*

They buried Sloane that night.

Cruise had a gazebo erected in the back garden under which eight kobaloi took turns to dig a grave. She arranged for others of her clan to cause minor mayhem along the street. Any curious neighbours would be too busy cursing the unruly kids to notice what was occurring under the gazebo.

The vampire was lowered, with difficulty, into her final resting place as Cruise offered a prayer to her guardian angel and any other deity who may have deigned to listen. Pippa remained at the graveside for hours until Dust coaxed her inside with a song.

Over the next four days, the stabbing pain in Deakes’s chest transformed into a steady ache. The whole of his left breast turned purple then faded to dirty yellow and he had difficulty in moving.

By comparison, Eddie, whose thigh had been ripped open by POC-17’s lobster claw, all but fully recovered. The only sign he had been injured at all was the slight limp he displayed as he stalked around the house. He scowled at anyone who crossed his path, keeping civil only for Dust, Pippa and Cruise.

Theo was often at loggerheads with his Sage, filling the air with so many raspberries Deakes feared he was at risk of dehydration.

For his own part, Deakes still could not reconcile that Andrea had been behind Cruise’s kidnapping and Eddie’s incarceration. He called her mobile three of four times a day but she refused to pick up. Worried for her wellbeing, he began to leave voice messages imploring she contact him.

Six days after Benson’s departure, Eddie’s patience ran out. He almost knocked Deakes to the ground as he stormed out of the room he and Dust were occupying. The siren was quick on his heels.

‘Don’t be a fucking moron, Eddie. You can’t go alone.’

Eddie spun on her, his body fairly crackling with electricity. ‘Every minute we waste is time Martan is in danger.’

‘Martan can look after himself,’ Dust said. ‘He survived for decades before you two met.’

‘And it damaged his psyche. Every time he turned someone to stone, his soul hardened. I won’t let him fall into despair again.’

‘Jordan, can you talk sense into this lunatic?’ Dust begged.

Deakes raised his good arm to block Eddie. Eddie’s growl rumbled up from his throat.

‘Wait a few more days,’ Deakes tried. ‘Give Benson time to gather some intel.’

‘I lived there for years before you’d even heard of the place. There is nothing your friend can find that I do not know. I’m going now.’

‘I’m coming too.’ Pippa stood a few feet along the landing. ‘Somebody has to answer for what happened to Sloane.’

‘I agree,’ Deakes said. ‘But we have to wait for Benson.’

‘No,’ Pippa and Eddie said in unison, and Pippa added, ‘We have to stop this now.’

*

The tension in Deakes’s chest rose with every mile they drew closer to the Asylum. He sat in the passenger seat of the Rover as Eddie drove. Reluctantly, he had joined the expedition in the hope he could prevent Eddie, or at least Pippa, doing anything rash. He doubted he had that influence.

Before leaving Garthside, he had called Benson to bring his friend up to speed. Benson would move heaven and earth to get to the Asylum as soon as possible. With the call going to voicemail, Deakes was left uncertain to Benson’s success at enlisting others of their old squad.

Deakes then relayed the same message to Andrea. There was still the possibility that she was not the traitor Theo believed her to be, and they needed all the help they could get.

Theo readily encouraged the plan when he heard it, but forbade any of the kobaloi to go.

Eddie crested the hill of the valley and pulled up beside Hunter. The troll’s eyes flicked between the four people in the Land Rover. His lips curled up when he saw Dust.

‘Nice to see you again,’ he said.

‘You too, Hunter,’ she replied. ‘How’s things?’

‘Quiet. Too quiet.’

*

The kobaloi house was filled with noise as the occupants prepared to change location. Theo marched from room to room, barking orders to ensure his clan could leave as soon as possible. He wanted them gone quickly in case Deakes talked sense into Eddie and they all returned sooner than expected.

Not that he was expecting them to return if they made it all the way to the Asylum. If Harris released the monstrosities he had seen in the basement, there would be a massacre.

‘Andre’s back,’ Reed told him. ‘He’s got a RAV4.’

‘Good,’ Theo replied. ‘Tell Cruise to start loading up her stuff.’

Having the appearance of human children had its advantages. The kobaloi could pry into tight spaces, they were often overlooked as threats and, if their schemes came undone, they were scalded as tearaway brats rather than reported to the authorities.

The fact that they were not permitted to own vehicles only proved irksome when they needed to move the entire clan quickly. At times like these, they had to employ inventive methods to acquire vehicles. In kobaloi vocabulary, ‘theft’ was synonymous with ‘borrow’.

Reed still stood beside Theo, concern drawing lines across his forehead.

‘Nobody’s seen Cruise for ages,’ he said.

Theo’s heart skipped a beat. Surely she couldn’t be that foolish?

He tore up the stairs and ran to Cruise’s room, bursting in without knocking. She was not there, and there was no sign that she had been preparing to leave. Her trinkets lay on the desk, her books on the shelves. And on the wall, the one item she would never relocate without: Ascalon, the ancestral sword.

*

Hunter’s ominous words only served to increase the tension in Deakes’s stomach as Eddie drove them into the valley. The paved road outside the main building lay in tatters, still not repaired from POC-17’s first attack. Deakes gaze turned to the north, to the ruptures that marked the centipede’s second assault. The one that had cost Sloane’s life.

A wave of grief stole his breath. He sucked in air but could not exhale. His temples throbbed in time with his pulse.

Pippa leaned forward, placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered, ‘Thank you.’

Deakes’s world returned to normal. Sadness still claimed his heart but it was reduced, tolerable. He blinked back tears and climbed out of the car.

The doors to the Asylum building opened. Fletch took two hesitant steps out.

‘I didn’t think you’d be back.’

Deakes was taken aback by his tone. Normally unapologetically abrasive, Fletch was now subdued and doubtful.

‘Where is Martan?’ Eddie’s words were thunderclaps in the stillness.

Fletch shrugged and opened his mouth to speak. He was cut off by a child’s scream.

’You!’ Cruise jumped from the cargo space and pointed at Fletch. ‘You’re the one who abducted me.’

The revelation superseded Deakes’s shock that Cruise had snuck onto the Rover.

Fletch took a step backwards. Cruise was the smallest of them, but clearly her ire frightened him most. He lifted his hands before him as he admitted his culpability.

‘I did. I was ordered to. I honestly thought it was for your own good, I had no idea about the Proof of Concept project.’

While Cruise fumed in silence, Eddie stepped forward.

‘Did you take Martan?’

Fletch nodded.

‘Where is he?’

Deakes heard the sound of approaching motors in the distance. He ignored it as he concentrated on Fletch’s answer.

‘I don’t know.’ Fletch’s shoulder sagged. ‘I haven’t seen anybody for days. Harris and Dr Zhu – I don’t know if they have Martan or where they are.’

Eddie inched closer to him. ‘Who gave you the orders?’

The sound grew louder, cutting through the air from above. Deakes recognised the noise from his time in the army. Rotors.

All eyes looked up as a military helicopter appeared above the valley ridge. It swooped over the ground and landed fifty feet from the building. Deakes’s mouth fell open, amazed at the hardware Benson had managed to procure.

Four armed soldiers leapt from the MH-6 Little Bird. Their uniforms were black, adorned only with name patches on the left breast. A fifth figure disembarked and approached the building in a hunched run. When she had cleared the downdraft, Andrea Buchannan stood upright and greeted them.

* * *

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