Hidden Demon, page 15
part #1 of Altered Demons Series
"We are a light in a world of shadows, Miss Dee," Knox said. "Tokyo failed, but Ortiz was a solid second prize. Fresh meat for the demon."
Knox turned to his two church thugs.
"Time to re-educate her, boys. Let there be light."
"No! Let there be dark," she said, smacking the EMP button on the back of the lifeless armored bear and rolling behind it. The lights went out as she flipped her night vision goggles down.
The church thugs shot blindly at her previous spot.
Denny ordered in German, "Attack!"
Canine eyes glowed green in her vision. Dee, crouching behind the carcass, drew her 1911 side arm and canceled the canine attack with two precision shots each. She holstered the pistol, snatching the sword from the demon's corpse as she rushed the reloading thugs. She slid on her knees between them, slicing one of their shin bones with a katana swing while severing the second thug's leg at the knee with the backswing. Both thugs fell, screaming in pain, as she spun around to a stop.
Dee kipped to her feet, stabbing one in the chest with the blade as she screamed a murderous yell. Snatching the 1911 from her holster, she aimed. The other thug took a bullet to the head.
Blinded by the dark, Denny snatched his Ka-Bar knife from a leg sheath. She jumped at his upper body, locking the knife wielding limb in an arm bar. Arching her back, she cracked his limb, dislocating his elbow. Denny screamed, dropping the knife. She judo rolled toward it, grabbed it, and threw it at the sheriff. He kneeled as he screamed from the impact, his impaled leg spurting blood into the dark as Penny escaped from his grasp until Knox snatched her. Dee stood, shooting Denny at close range. Two in the chest. One in the head. His limp body fell to the ground.
The pistol slide locked back. She threw the empty 1911 at Buddy's head, knocking off his hat. He grabbed his head as he seethed, the head wound competing for supremacy with the knife in his leg. He shuddered. Someone pulled close. Dee whispered from the dark.
"The place where the noises are."
A single katana swing and the sheriff's head bounced and rolled away.
Knox and Penny stood close together in her night vision. Dee threw out a handful of firefly chem-lights. As their green light emanated from every direction, Knox held Penny captive at knifepoint. Penny dug her fingernails into the arm around her neck, her taut brow begging silently for help. Dee pointed the sword at Knox. He pushed his own Ka-Bar blade harder into her neck, liberating a tiny blood trickle.
"I'll do it. You know I will!" Knox said.
Dee stared Knox down, holding the katana as intense gulps of underground air fueled her fury. She eyeballed him while pressing a button on her red clamshell device.
"Butler, my room's a mess."
Chapter 32
A
fter Dee called for backup on the red clamshell, a laser dot appeared immediately on Penny and Knox. Dee peeked over her shoulder. Emerging from the shadows, Director Butler shouldered a rifle as he peered through its holographic sights.
"Copy on that cleanup, Wildcat, five by five."
Her face contorted, still pointing the sword toward Knox with her quivering arm.
"That was quick," Dee said.
"Hey, award me janitor of the year. You can drop that salad shooter, I got him."
Dee placed the sword on the ground.
"He'll kill me, Dee. He will kill all of us!" Penny said.
Dee peered at Knox.
"Your dad may have lost. But regardless of your history, he doesn't want you dead. Isn't that right, Colonel?"
"Not my dad. Him!" Penny said, nodding to Butler.
Dee stood speechless as the red dot of Butler's weapon moved to Penny's shoulder. Penny dug fingernails into her father's arm. Dee pivoted to Butler, unarmed, eyes widening, heart pumping as Butler pulled the trigger.
Penny cried out as her shoulder absorbed the slug. Knox took two more to the torso. Dee spun back as Penny fell to the ground, bleeding out on her white dress. Penny laid still as Knox stumbled back, kneeling from the impact as he ripped his shirt, revealing a bulletproof vest. Director Butler turned the rifle on Dee.
"Damn it, Knox. Look at this mess."
"Goddamn it, Sean. What are you doing here?"
Dee's jaw dropped.
"You know each other?"
"Yeah, I know this son-of-a-bitch," Knox said. "If he had deployed the prototype in Tokyo, like I said, we would be golden right now."
"The prototype wasn't ready, and we couldn't risk it out in the open," Butler said.
"You benched the beast for a flock of birds."
"You seemed to use them well enough."
"Admit it," Knox said, placing the knife back into his leg sheath. "The big job scared you."
"Who used advanced weapons tech for their business ventures and local politics? You risked everything, Colonel."
"We can't be in the shadows forever. Now end her and let's get back on track."
With hands raised, Dee chastised her old boss through shallow breaths.
"My God. What have you done, Sean?"
"Yeah, Sean," Knox said, grimacing as he stood. "Might want to break it down Barney-style, Marine!"
"Oh, she's bright enough to catch on, aren't you, agent?"
Dee took a moment as she considered this newfound association. She eyeballed the Ka-Bar knives on both of their legs.
"Two hunting buddies," Dee said. "You met while serving in the Marines. Colonel's older… probably your commanding officer. Kindred spirits who both went hard on the world. You didn't like how it was changing."
"Told you she would catch on fast," Butler said.
Dee paced as she spoke, glancing occasionally at Penny.
"You needed to make the world safe—like you imagined it used to be. But the politicians couldn't be bothered with bold moves. At least not bold enough for you. And when the Mercer family fortune flowed to Knox, it funded a perfect partnership to experiment, torture or kill as you saw fit."
As she filled in the blanks further, the Alaskan hunting ground where Knox encountered the bear became clearer in her mind. She imagined how it probably went.
***
A giant Kodiak and her two cubs fished in the river. The two hunting companions paused. Knox raised his gun as he whispered.
"We only need one."
Knox pulled and pushed the rifle bolt.
A second barrel rose.
"I got the little one," Butler said.
"Ready? 3. 2. 1."
Two shots rang out.
***
"StareFace. The Demon. Two different tools, part of a complex arsenal for one simple end. Control. Starting with government energy contracts. Nuclear be damned. How did I do, Marines?"
"Now that's a beautiful brain," Knox said, shaking his head and leering. "Just like the rest of her. It was smart to keep her on the sidelines."
"Yeah, she got most of it," Butler said. "Missed the part where she and I get rich selling StareFace intel to the highest bidder."
"That's me," Knox said.
"It used to be," Butler said as his rifle laser landed on Knox's forehead.
"What's this shit, Marine?!"
Dee creeped toward the sword on the floor.
"The spoils of war. I found another buyer, and you're a liability," Butler said, gripping the rifle tighter. "Capture Ortiz. Capture! Not kill her in her own goddamned house. And now what? You want to stuff me, too? I was high over Tokyo when that shit blew, and you knew it."
"Well, you got me," Knox chided. "So, what are you gonna do? My money. My politicians."
"Ha, the last words of a grand old man. That's the agency's money now. Which makes it my money. And politicians always follow the—"
"Powerful men always think they're in control, don't they, Sean?" Dee said.
Butler glanced over to her before refocusing on Knox.
"That's right, men like Knox. Freeman. The rich. The privileged. They couldn't even wipe without people like me. Like us."
"And upstart idiots like Isabel Ortiz never stood a chance, am I right?" Dee said.
"Damn straight. Bunch of losers."
"Although, you know, they may not agree," Dee said, leaning her head close to the red clamshell device on her left shoulder.
"Isn't that right, Mr. President?"
Over the speaker, President Freeman said, "Always happy to hear about my failures, Agent Johnson. How about you, Señora Ortiz?"
"Right on, Mr. President."
Director Butler's face turned empty.
Dee grinned at Butler, tapping the red clamshell.
"The radio works underground, or so I've been told, ex-Director."
Butler bristled at her veiled insult as Freeman spoke.
"Sorry I can't join that welcome wagon headed your way, agent. But we will always have Tokyo."
"Always have Tokyo," Butler said, echoing the President. "Always have Tokyo. It's a goddamned code."
"It's also math," Dee said. "A person attacked by a shark, that's rare. But two attacks by the same shark? Like hot peanuts on Pluto."
Chapter 33
B
utler refocused his rifle muzzle on Knox. Dee eyeballed her old boss, inching toward the sword she had dropped earlier. The red laser dot found the old Colonel's wrinkled temple. His eyes expanded as Butler locked aim. Dee dropped to a knee, grabbing the katana as a shot rang out. Knox fell.
Butler glanced at Dee as she hurled the sword at him. He recoiled as the katana barely sliced his arm before bouncing off the metal wall. He seethed, turning to the exit as he bled. Dee judo rolled to an enemy pistol and snatched it. One missed shot hit the wall by his head as he escaped through the giant bunker door. The slide on the gun had locked back. She threw it down before moving to Penny.
Dee placed her hand on Penny's wrist, checking her pulse briefly before moving on to her shoulder. It still bled from Butler's earlier rifle shot. She placed a nerve block patch on the arm before snatching XStat sponge syringes from her field pouch. As Dee injected the wound, the bleeding slowed, then stopped. Penny rolled her head toward her, eyes filled with relief as Dee stroked her fiery red hair.
"I promise." Dee inhaled sharply. "You'll be okay, I promise."
An announcement came over her radio, "Five minutes out."
Dee stood, grabbing her rifle. She checked the ammo count before exiting the room after Butler.
In the re-education room, the vintage lights lining the stone walls had burned out from the EMP blast. With her night vision enabled, Dee saw the bloody set of spiked crosses with chains. And once again, the torture device they had used on Penny. One more hash mark lined the wall. She moved her hand on the chalk marks as her eyes narrowed under the goggles. He had been tracking his kills. The sound of running water in the nearby floor latrine masked her hearing, hypnotizing her for a moment. She thought of Ko and Penny, but recalling her dad broke her oddly calm trance. With new focus, she raised her rifle.
Stepping through the darkened hallway, she sighted down the gun, gritting her teeth. She penetrated the rotunda where the man had sung to her earlier. His disturbing words had motivated her. Demon's gonna get you. She labeled him a false prophet.
Boom! A flash-bang grenade blinded her. She recoiled from the pain in her eyes, and a rifle buttstock knocked her fuzzier. After her body crashed to the ground, Butler kicked her rifle away and clutched her collar, dragging her across the floor. Dee felt the ground slide underneath her boots. He propped her up on her knees. Cold steel met her wrists.
"Two minutes out."
Butler swiped her red clamshell device, slamming it on the ground. He stomped it with his boot heel twice before shooting it with his 1911.
"Monitor that, you fucks!"
As Dee returned to consciousness, she startled against the chains and old manacles at the foot of the central throne. Butler strutted by, heading toward the elaborate chair. Blurry in her vision, he hopped onto it and pressed buttons. On the massive chandelier hanging from the domed ceiling, the lights brightened as he turned a knob. He extracted a cigar and lighter from a pouch attached to the armrest. Smoke rose from the familiar perch toward the stone dome as he took the metal gavel and banged it on the armrest.
"Court is now in session."
The church man sang from his cage once again.
"Demon's Gonna Get You. Demon's Gonna Get—"
"The demon's dead, you idiot!" Dee said.
"No, he's not. The demon's on the throne!"
She glanced at Butler.
Butler shrugged.
"Don't worry, when your friends get here, death will come for us all. Fortunately for the world, my legacy transcends death."
Butler puffed his cigar, illuminating his fevered eyes.
"Disinformation, agent. That's the key. Keep it focused. Narrowing the average person's field of view can be of extreme usefulness. Ninety percent of the information you let through might be the absolute, irrefutable truth. But that last ten percent you mix in? Not lies, but a poisoned truth that destroys reason and reality. Wow! I mean, you name it. Election doubts. Digital currency stability. An ancient demon. The bozos believe all that bull."
Butler raised his palms to the ceiling. Cigar still in hand, he smiled, closing his eyes as he turned his head upward.
"It's like that old TV show. I want to believe."
"Patronizing fuck," Dee said. As her vision cleared, movement in the shadows found her eyes, barely visible opposite her in the rotunda.
Butler took another puff and eyeballed her. His mocking tone turned more serious.
"The lies we believe tell us much about ourselves, agent. The ones we mutually commit to tell us about our society. This prototype worked out the quirks, but we needed a cover story for field testing. So, we queued up some old tale about a native forest demon. Ha! Anyone researching it would have found it online. That's the beauty, the lie feeds on itself."
The shadowy thing drew closer as Butler continued.
"Plus, we leveraged the increasing animal attacks happening in national forests. They occur with greater frequency than most know. Anyone curious enough could do the research and find irrefutable proof—at least irrefutable to them—that supported their theories. Those who didn't want to use those explanations to be part of my team, well, we just sprinkled in threats of violence. A dash of bribes. Mixed messages across channels. The local church. The news props. Government agency alliances. You know, nation building 101? You've done it, too. When you were Delta Force. If we can do it to Uganda, Taiwan, or the Kashmir, we can do it to this state."
He puffed on the cigar as Dee eyeballed the specter, moving ever closer.
"But the data is the real prize. Our research will fuel animal weapon science for decades. Bombs on dolphins? Cold War nonsense. Drones? Target practice for wannabes in some desert shit hole."
He waved his hand as if painting his envisioned world.
"Imagine it, militarized herds for profit. Wild horses tamed and remote-controlled in Mexico. Mechanized elephants stampeding the enemy in Africa. An army of macaques in India? Hell, those little shits already attack people for potato chips. There are more kangaroos in Australia than the population of Alabama. God made all animals for us to rule. But with them at our side? We rule everything. With them at our side, we are gods."
Butler placed the cigar on an armrest and grabbed an electronic device from another pouch. As he manipulated the remote control, her head throbbed. How was the pain getting worse? Her eyesight had cleared quickly after his ambush. She did not have a concussion.
Then it emerged, revealing furry claws and a tawny coat. Bright eyes and a lengthy tail all shrouded in military-grade armor. Butler moved a joystick on the controller, and it charged. Her head pounded. Agile and fast, it started its leap. As she accepted her death, the mechanized cougar stopped. It shivered, shaking its head. She felt the pain of the implants in the creature. The modern beast sensed her. Her ability to feel it reflected to the animal. It growled and hissed as it paced, but it did not direct its anger at her.
"You like her?" Butler said, fidgeting with the remote. "We named it Hera because, well, you'll find out when I fix this shoddy piece of junk."
"That's not her name," Dee said, cocking her head.
Butler glanced up from the device. "No?"
"No, she won't tell me her actual name. But she said she has plans for you."
Butler raised an eyebrow.
"Told me you stole her from her family," Dee said. "Put these gadgets on her. Injected her with chemicals, drugs, and viruses. Made her something sick and twisted. Your friend made her kill someone on a trail. I can only assume it was Angela Elliott? Pastor Jimmy's wife."
Butler scoffed.
"Well, that's a hell of a story, agent. What else did she tell you?"
"That she hates you. For thinking you own her. And that given the choice, she would bite your throat clean out."
The giant cat locked eyes with Butler, dropping its head and arching its back. Butler fiddled with the remote, but the cat remained focused on him as it stalked nearer. He drew his 1911 pistol. The cougar charged. He pulled the trigger over and over in a rapid burst, emptying the forty-five-caliber gun into the feline attacker, leaping through the air. Armor deflected metal as the massive cat pounced, grabbing his neck. Butler flailed as the cat snarled, panting through nostrils filling with blood. He grabbed the Ka-bar knife from his leg sheath, flailing against the creature with meager stabs as his neck flesh ripped. The cougar flung his trachea across the room. Butler went limp, his knife bouncing on the floor as red liquid streamed over the golden throne. Face and body covered in gore, the muscular feline dismounted and snarled a painful cry.
Dee teared up, relieved it was over, but emotionally spent from the pain transferred to her. She dislocated her thumb and removed the chains binding her. Steadying herself as she stood, she spoke through gritted teeth toward the corpse of her old boss.
