HALLOWED GROUND

James Somers

www.jamessomers.net

Exclusive Kindle Version

1 LETHAL WEAPON

Dr. Andre Sarkov watched the biological monitor displaying the current data on his final test subject. His eyes scanned for any sign of brainwave activity which might indicate the subject was regaining consciousness. He relaxed, but only a little, as the monitors conveyed reassuring news. Samuel Stokes, the last living Halo Project test subject, remained securely anesthetized.

“Pilot, is our sky lane secured, yet?” Sarkov addressed the pilot through a flesh-colored communication implant residing near his larynx. Medical technicians, on the Halo Project payroll, hovered over Stokes’ body, making last minute checks on the stainless steel restraint bands. The staff anesthesiologist secured her intravenous lines and modified the infusion pump. “We’ll keep him deep,” she said, winking. She removed some syringes from the bed, checked the joints on the endotracheal tube feeding oxygen to her patient, then settled into a chair bolted to the floor of the long trailer compartment.

The pilot chimed in through an overhead speaker. “We’ve secured the sky lane, Dr. Sarkov. May we proceed?”

Sarkov sighed. “Please do.” He smiled back at the anesthesiologist, Karen Thomas. He’d recently asked her out on a date, hoping to celebrate the end of the Halo Project. She had accepted. Andre looked forward to getting this unpleasant business finally over with.

He hadn’t been sleeping well for months. All prior test subjects had gone sour on him. Andre had the unpleasant duty of attending to their disposal, before they grew too dangerous. He watched the sedate form of Samuel Stokes. “You almost got away from me, Sam,” he whispered.

The gentle tug of inertial forces informed him the journey toward Compound Seven had begun. Within two hours, traveling at a speed of two hundred miles per hour, their transport would anchor in Psy-Corp’s most secure facility. There Dr. Sarkov would initiate the final test procedures, ultimate termination, and bodily preservation of Samuel Stokes.

His only lament lay in the fact that he had allowed himself to get close to Sam. “Are you going to miss him?” Karen asked. Andre looked up at her, realizing he had been staring at Stokes. “Excuse me?”

Karen paused the video she had been viewing on her PDA, a small floating sphere which projected a three dimensional image in mid-air. “Are you going to miss, Sam? I mean, I wouldn’t blame you. He was a lot of fun and cute, too.”

Andre smiled. “I suppose, but safety first. We can’t let the life of one test subject jeopardize the welfare of society at large.”

She pursed her lip playfully. “The Zealots wouldn’t agree with that. They say all life is sacred.”

Andre stifled a laugh. “What’s so sacred about chemical processes? Knowledge…that’s the precious thing. We evolved by chance, but we’re raising ourselves up by knowledge! Through knowledge, we can become more than what we ever could be otherwise.”

Karen looked at Stokes’ body lying restrained on the table. “Maybe that’s a dream we’re not going to see fulfilled, Andre. I mean, the project failed.”

“Not failed, Karen,” he insisted. “We’ve just closed some doors, and with the knowledge we’ve gained from the Halo Project, we’ll open new ones.”

She smiled, shrugged, then tapped the suspended image with her finger. The video began to play again. Andre looked back at Sam’s unconscious form, muttering to himself. “We’ll unlock our potential safely someday…I’m sure of it.”

•

Silas Chang sucked on one of his trademark cheap cigars, then released the smoke through his clenched teeth. He tapped the distance control on his digital binoculars, zooming in on his target. At the base of a huge sky lane support pylon, two of his men entered the security office, shooting the two guards on duty.

The pylon continued its gentle hum, providing total control for the one hundred sky lanes stacked above it, high into the atmosphere. Traffic moved at a steady pace of two hundred miles per hour. Passengers remained completely oblivious to the minor coup taking place below.

Silas Chang now held control over the lives of those traveling this way in the sky lane system. At his command, the pylon could divert traffic or stop it. With multiple pylons under his control, he could even disable the lanes, allowing hundreds of vehicles to break free of the electromagnetic fields guiding and protecting them. Losing control, they would spiral into the ground. Chang’s men had duplicated this attack at nine consecutive pylons along this route. He now controlled them all.

Only one particular lane and one particular vehicle held any interest for him. Psy-Corp had decided to terminate the final test subject of its highly secretive Halo Project. That meant a trip to Compound Seven and a single moment of opportunity for his organization, The Ring, to gain a human weapon of mass destruction available nowhere else on the planet.

The Ring had paid a member of the medical staff ten million credits for the information. They had provided dates and times, everything necessary to make interception and acquisition a certainty. The informant would be riding in the transport with a tracking pin attached.

The informant had given Silas Chang the number of their sky lane, but even had they not; the secure status of the lane, among all the other public lanes, would have been enough. Silas’ team at all of the consecutive pylon locations, nearly one hundred miles total distance, shut down sky lane number twenty one. The electromagnetic field, which provided the invisible tunnel of energy guiding and protecting vehicles in the lane, collapsed.

Hundreds of feet in the air, the black unmarked Psy-Corp transport, traveling at two hundred miles per hour, shot off course as the invisible sky lane barrier fell. Silas watched with eager anticipation through his digital binoculars, as the pilot attempted to regain control of the transport, which had been flying on auto-pilot while in the EM sky lane tunnel. “Hit them!” Silas commanded.

The man who had been aiming his laser guided EMP blaster at the transport, fired. A hypersonic dart flew at the transport, embedding into its hide. “Got it!” the man said.

“Activate!” Silas said. He watched as a transparent blue sphere blinked around the transport vehicle. All power instantly failed under the influence of the electromagnetic pulse. Even Silas’ digital binoculars snapped off, then back on due to the ambient pulse effect, but only the transport’s system circuits would be fried beyond repair. The heavy vehicle dropped out of the sky like a boulder.

Silas watched as the Psy-Corp transport slammed into the desert floor, approximately one mile away from his position. “I hope the safety systems took affect,” Silas mused. “It would be a shame, if our prize was damaged.” He smiled, waving to the rest of his men. “Retrieval unit, move out.” He sat back into the driver’s seat of a sand colored Dune Master dune buggy, slammed the accelerator, then launched away from a rocky outcropping trailing the hum of the vehicle’s electric motor.

A quick, bouncy ride brought Silas’ group to the crash site of the Psy-Corp transport. It lay on its side upon the desert floor with a scorched trail behind and a mound of dry earth pushed forward under the front. Tendrils of smoke pulled away under the gentle breeze as Silas came alongside.

A pilot’s cabin door, once on the right side, but now facing skyward, opened and was pushed over. One of the cockpit crew climbed out and stood upon the hull of the heavy rig. Silas got out of his Dune Master and walked toward the wreckage. He called out to the survivor, now trying to wave their group of vehicles over to help.

“Are you all right?” Silas called, walking toward the man.

“Yeah, but the other pilots are hurt, and we’ve got people in the back who might be injured!” the man said, pointing down into the lopsided cockpit.

Silas raised a mini submachine gun, with laser sighting, and gunned down the pilot. The man fell backward off the hull. Urgent queries rose from inside the cockpit. Silas looked at two of his men. “Finish them, while we secure Stokes.”

The men obeyed, each of them brandishing a similar mini submachine gun. As Silas found his way to one of the emergency exits on the hull, the two men mounted the open cockpit door and silenced the pleas of those inside with several bursts of machine gun fire.

The rear door sat on its side, but when they opened it, Silas found the compartment within sitting perfectly upright due to its gyro controlled stabilizers. The transport’s spiral to the earth had left it unaffected, save for the actual shock of impact. Silas saw that the crew had just now begun to unfasten their safety restraints in order to move about the compartment. There, in the middle of everyone, lay Samuel Stokes. He remained unconscious, completely anesthetized, and held secure with buffer restraints as Silas’ informant had promised he would be. The prize was safe.

Several technicians lay dazed upon the floor. They evidently hadn’t been strapped in. A man, who appeared to be in charge, stood up when Silas entered the compartment. “Who are you people?”

Silas ignored him, instead speaking to his own team. “Secure Stokes.” His men obeyed. They floated a containment capsule through the door and began removing the restraints.

“You can’t move him!” Sarkov said.

Silas turned to the doctor with his gun raised. “Can’t we?”

The doctor, who’d been moving toward Stokes’ body, halted abruptly and raised his hands. “He’s under deep anesthesia. If you move him, you’ll kill him.”

“Considering the nature of your mission, I’m surprised that would bother you.”

Dr. Sarkov’s jaw dropped as he watched the anesthesiologist, Karen Thomas, take a pistol from Silas Chang’s hand. “Karen, how could you?”

Her eyes narrowed. “For ten million credits, anything is possible,” she admitted.

Silas’ men secured the IV lines and tubing from the anesthesia machine to a portable unit built into the containment capsule. “Time to go,” Silas said. “No time for chit-chat, Karen.”

Dr. Sarkov raised his hands defensively, pleading. Karen raised the weapon and gunned him down without mercy. The other medical personnel watched in horror, but didn’t dare say anything. Silas’ men moved the body and prepared to leave.

“Quite ruthless, my dear,” Silas said. “Exactly what I would expect from a traitor.” Karen turned to protest, only to find Silas’ submachine gun pointed at her chest. She raised her hands, as Sarkov had with the same pleading, and received the same end.

2 CHIEF EXECUTIVES

Jay Young woke to the chime of an incoming message. He glanced at the digital clock display on his bedside table. It read 3:20 a.m. He groaned, then tapped the receiver button next to the clock. An image of his personal assistant, Todd Metz, appeared on the far bedroom wall. “Yes?” Jay tried to unwind from his blankets and sit up in the bed.

“Dr. Young, we have a problem,” Todd said, looking grim.

The word “problem” snapped Jay completely upright and awake. He tapped the table console button allowing his assistant to see him, as well as hear. “What problem?”

“Dr. Sarkov and his team left the Psy-Corp facility just after midnight, apparently with the intention of finally disposing of the final subject, Samuel Stokes, at their Compound Seven facility. From what we’ve gathered, a terrorist organization has intercepted their transport, killed Dr. Sarkov, his team, and taken Stokes.”

Jay closed his eyes, sighing. “What about the police?”

“We’ve quarantined the transport crash site for now, but these terrorists killed sky lane, pylon workers in two states to pull this off. The FBI is already involved.”

“We won’t be able to keep them out of the crash site for long,” Jay said. “Try to contain this as best you can until I get there.” He threw off the covers and stood up in his red silk pajamas.

“Yes, sir, I’ll do my best.” Todd ended the transmission.

“Light,” Jay said. The house computer complied, bringing up the illumination in the room gradually. Jay stood there, staring at a picture of his adopted daughter, Margot, hanging upon his wall. The picture frame segued between still photos and limited-motion images of the little girl.

He closed his eyes. “Lord, what have we gotten ourselves into.” Memories of Dr. Sarkov showing off his Halo Project kids plagued him. They had been genetically mutated and then re-implanted invitro. It was just another version of the horrific tampering with man’s supposed evolution Jay had seen over the years. This time, there were innocent children paying the price.

Jay remembered watching as Sarkov put the children through their paces, levitating objects, bursting concrete blocks with their minds, and even manipulating the thoughts of others. Sarkov had envisioned a race of super men. Instead, he had produced telekinetic children living on borrowed time, until their brain mutations carried them steadily into madness and finally death.

Of the ten children originally produced, all had either died, or become too dangerous to remain alive. Of them all, Samuel Stokes had been the most gifted and clever, not to mention the longest survivor. As his degeneration progressed, following the onset of puberty, it had been decided that he finally held too great a risk to the public. His power had grown exponentially, so much so that he’d killed a dozen Psy-Corp employees in an escape attempt.

Jay sat back down on the bed, feeling weary. He remembered his experience nearly thirty years ago with Trenton Hallowed. Jay had been tortured by the geneticist-gone-mad. Hallowed had killed dozens more in his attempt to spread his mutagen to the city’s masses. “I can’t let it happen again,” he whispered. “Please help me know what to do, Lord.”

•

Silas Chang unfastened his safety harness as his huge transport docked within an underground staging area used by their organization. The pilots reduced the engine power levels as Silas walked to the rear of the cabin, through a door leading into the rear compartment. Samuel Stokes lay safe and sound in his capsule with Silas’ own medical technicians attending to minor adjustments and monitoring his vital signs. “Take him on to the containment chamber,” Silas said, lighting one of his cigars. “We don’t want to keep the old man waiting.”

Minutes later, Silas ran his fingers through his moussed black hair and straightened his tie in the reflection on Ming’s shiny, black office door. He took a final puff on his flavored cigar, then ground it out on the door facing and flicked the butt down the hall. Silas knocked, and the door opened revealing a mammoth slab of meat named Garth—one of Ming’s personal bodyguards. His twin, Anders, stood at Ming’s right side. The old man sat behind a black desk that obscured most of his body.

“I see you’re still smoking those repulsive cigars,” Ming said, as Silas entered the room.

“Watching the hall again, were we?” Silas countered.

“I see everything, Silas. I even see the hidden motives of my men.” Ming brushed his graying hair to one side. He removed his spectacles and wiped them with a monogrammed handkerchief.

“When are you going to have your eyes done?” Silas asked, taking a seat where his back remained to the wall.

Ming replaced the spectacles on his face, then leaned forward with his elbows on his desk. “I’m too old to bother with such things.”

“You assume too much, Silas,” Ming snapped. “I’ve noticed you asserting your own agenda for some time now.” Silas remained silent. The pistol under his coat gave him comfort. Even two brutes like Anders and Garth would lose against a well placed bullet. Ming continued. “I am still in control of the Ring. I was responsible for its organization forty years ago. I decide the course of our enterprises now.”

Silas interrupted. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us, Ming. Stokes is the last one, and if we can control him, maybe even learn how this power of his works—”

“No!” Ming stood up, pounding his fist on the desktop. He pointed a bony at Silas. “You cannot control him. Even the scientists who made him could not control him!”

Silas tried to control his temper.

“I’ve seen all of this before, Silas. Thirty years ago, I longed for immortality, dangled before me like a carrot. I danced with the devil and it nearly got me killed. As it was, I spent a year in prison before getting off on a technicality. I thought I might be able to control Trenton Hallowed, but he nearly destroyed my operation…never again.”

Silas stood slowly, keeping an eye on Ming’s bodyguards. “Now that we have him, what do you propose we do, if not use his power?”

“Kill him immediately, while you still can.”

Silas feigned a smile and gave a slight bow of acknowledgement. He turned and stepped past Garth, who had opened the door for him. As Silas stepped just beyond the threshold, Ming called out. “Silas, when you’ve disposed of Samuel Stokes, I want to see you here again. We have unfinished business to attend to.”

Silas could feel the old man smiling behind him as he said it. He turned his head slightly, catching Ming in his peripheral vision, then nodded, turned, and left for the security chamber where Samuel Stokes waited.

3 AWAKE

As Silas walked the long underground corridor toward the security chamber he had had built to hold his Psy-Corp prize, he replayed his visit with his boss in his mind. Ming almost certainly meant to kill him. The old man knew Silas had been asserting his own authority and meant to put a grinding halt to it.

Silas had to admit, he would do it the same way. After all, a younger man with excellent leadership ability presented a challenge to the old man’s rule over the Ring. The challenger had to be dealt with. Yet, Silas already knew the old alpha lion’s time was growing short. He wouldn’t let the old man strike first.

Silas reached the end of the corridor and bypassed the hangar door to enter the new security chamber control room. When he walked in, he found his crew sitting in the large control booth drinking sodas and discussing rumors of Stokes’ power and what that might mean for their organization.

Silas put on a smile, despite his smarting from the old man’s rebuke. “Boys, today is the day. Once we’ve cracked the secret to Stokes’ power, our crew will be unstoppable. We’ll rise to rule the Ring and lead it in a new direction. No more hiding in the shadows. We’ll take all of Imperial City for ourselves.”

His men cheered, fifty in all, cramming into the lab area surrounding the control booth. Beyond it, laid Samuel Stokes. They viewed the containment chamber through a transparent plexi-steel containment wall.

Silas walked over to the control console and tapped the intercom button in order to speak with the nurse anesthetist monitoring Stokes’ vital signs. “How is he? Are you ready to revive him?” Silas asked.

The nurse nodded from the head of the table where they had secured Stokes’ body with Kevlar straps. “All ready, sir.”

“Good. You may proceed.” He turned to his men waiting in the lab area around tables of equipment and weapons. “Be ready with the tranquilizers. If anything happens, we may be forced to put him back down.” Ten of Silas’ men nodded, checking their tranquilizer guns. Several others waited with Taser pistols, just in case.

The anesthetist made adjustments to the anesthetic, essentially cutting everything but the pure oxygen. After several moments, Stokes body began to tremble, then jerk against the restraints. Silas waited eagerly. His palms began to sweat.

The anesthetist hovered over him and then deflated the endotracheal tube and removed it. Stokes’ convulsions ceased almost immediately. The nurse watched the monitors, made more adjustments, then spoke softly to the patient. Silas tapped the intercom button on the console. “What’s happening? Is he awake?”

“He should be…he’s breathing on his own now,” the nurse said. Then the nurse shook his head, as though dizzy. The nurse anesthetist braced against the table, trying to steady himself. Without another word, the nurse began unfastening the Kevlar straps restraining Stokes’ body.

Silas punched the intercom again. “What are you doing?” The anesthetist didn’t answer. “Tom?” Silas turned to his crew, waiting with tranquilizers in hand. “You guys get in there.”

Silas released the security lock, and his men ran through the door into the chamber. The door automatically closed after them, resealing itself. The nurse finished removing the last of the safety straps from Stokes’ body, despite one of the team members yelling at him to stop.

The nurse anesthetist removed his sidearm from the holster on his hip, turned, and pointed it directly at Silas, standing at the control board inside the booth. He fired. Several layers of the plexi-steel barrier shattered into spider webs, but the barrier held. The strength of his protection hadn’t stopped Silas from reflexively ducking the gunshots.

The anesthetist turned the gun on several of Silas’ soldiers, then on himself. Staring blankly at the men before him, the nurse fired a single shot into his temple and collapsed to the floor in a bloody mess.

For a moment no one moved—everyone trying to make sense of what had just happened. Without warning, the soldiers tumbled in every direction like smashed bowling pins. Tranquilizer guns hit the walls and floor.

Silas watched as Samuel Stokes sat up on the operating table, brushing the Kevlar straps aside. He looked back at Silas—fury and confusion written all over his face—a handsome young Caucasian with a sandy mop of hair. Silas hit the intercom button as his men regrouped inside the chamber with Stokes. “Samuel, we’re not trying to harm you!”

It was already too late to say it. Most of Silas’ men had gathered their tranquilizer guns from the floor and taken aim. They fired just as Silas tried to tell them not too. Maybe it was for the best. The situation had quickly gotten out of control.

Tranquilizer darts flashed through the air toward Samuel, but stopped inches before hitting his flesh. The darts hung suspended in the air for a fraction of a second, then turned on Silas’ men and surged back at them. The darts hit with the force of bullets, killing the victims and clearing out the majority of Samuel’s opposition inside the security chamber.

“Stop, Samuel! I’m trying to help you!” Silas lied. Somehow, he had to get control of the situation.

Samuel got off the table and started toward the door. The soldiers still alive in the room tried to punch in their codes to release the door lock and escape. The codes had no effect. Silas had made sure only someone at the control board could unlock it.

The entire wall reverberated with the sound of invisible impacts as Samuel pounded at Silas’ men with his telekinesis, trying to escape the chamber. Gore streaked across the transparent plexi-steel barrier as Samuel exploded the soldiers’ bodies from within. The barrier shook again, and again as Samuel hammered his cage with his mind, like the fist of a giant.

The men with Silas, in the control booth, screamed—terrified for their lives. Samuel Stokes may have been an unconscious boy a moment ago, but now a mental juggernaut threatened to come through their impenetrable barrier and kill them all. “Gas him!” Silas shouted to one of the men helping run the control board. The man tapped the switch labeled Hydrogen Cyanide 3500ppm.

Gas level indicators on his panel started to register higher and higher concentrations. The pounding from within stopped as a pale blue haze built up in the room. Silas felt relieved, but couldn’t see what had happened to Stokes. “How long will it take to kill him?” Silas asked.

The man operating the board with him, a scientist on the Ring’s payroll, read the instrumentation again. “He should be dead within sixty seconds.”

Silas looked into the room again through the blood splattered plexi-steel barrier. He still couldn’t see anything moving. “We’ll give him a half hour, if we have to.” His fears began to abate only to be replaced by Ming’s warning. “You can’t control him,” he had said. Silas’ pride burned. The old man had been right.

Silas’ head began to ache, and his ears popped. “What’s happening?” he asked.

The metal portion of the wall groaned and bulged. Large cracks snaked through the plexi-steel barrier. Rivets and welds snapped. The wall pushed outward, as pressure rose in the control room. “He’s still alive,” the scientist cried. “Stokes is coming through. I’ve got to evacuate the gas before he breaches.”

Silas turned, running from the room. Some of his men tried to follow, but the alarms sounded and emergency countermeasures slammed the auto-door shut, fixing it with pressurized seals. Silas backed away, listening to the muffled screams of his men beyond the steel door. They pounded again, and again with no hope of escape.

An explosion, from within the chamber, shook the building. Silas fell back against the wall. He quickly picked himself up from the floor and noticed the screaming had stopped beyond the safety door. He stepped up to the door, trying to hear if anyone was still alive.

The metal door frame squealed. Silas stumbled backward as cracks formed in the wall plaster. He turned, running down the corridor. Behind him, the security door exploded away from its frame and slammed into the adjacent wall. It remained embedded there as Samuel Stokes emerged, wearing only his hospital gown.

Silas saw the venom in the boy’s eyes as he fixed upon him. Silas turned, sprinting as fast as he could. His feet left the floor. Silas felt the sudden acceleration of his body tumbling through the air—scooped up by an invisible hand. He hit the ground and tried to roll out of it.

As Silas got back to his feet, intending to run again, he felt the invisible grip lift him from the floor again. This time he flew back toward Samuel Stokes, standing in the hall waiting for his arrival. Silas stopped three feet from the boy, still suspended in mid-air. “What is this place?” Samuel demanded.

Silas felt the pressure on his body increase. The boy would squeeze the information from his corpse if necessary. “You’re in a facility owned by the Ring, a criminal organization.” Silas saw no point in lying. Possibly, the boy might even be reading his mind just to be sure.

Samuel looked puzzled. “Why am I here?”

Silas now saw an opportunity, but he had to be quick. He looked down the corridor, as though wanting to be sure that no one else heard the privileged information he was about to spill to Samuel. “I’m a mercenary going under the assumed name, Silas Chang. I was hired to infiltrate the Ring and more recently assigned to foil their attempt at kidnapping you.”

For a moment, bewilderment crossed Samuel’s face. “What are you talking about, hired by who?”

“I’m afraid I can’t say at this point, not without authorization,” Silas said. “I’ve taken an oath.” The pressure on his suspended body increased dramatically, making it difficult to breath.

Silas mustered his anger. He had to be convincing. “Exactly, Sam, and you heard me in their shouting at you to stop. I knew what would happen if they felt you had become too great a threat.”

“They tried to shoot me and then gas me!”

“Yeah, and I’m the only one who was trying to calm you down to prevent it from happening!” They were shouting at each other, but Silas knew if he flinched on his righteous indignation the boy would know it and end him, then and there.

To his surprise and relief, the pressure eased somewhat as Samuel considered the situation. Silas had him. Time to reel in his big fish. “I’ve blown my cover here trying to rescue you, Samuel. At the very least, I need to finish my mission and get you out of here! Ming wanted them to slice you up, to see what makes you tick. He’ll be here soon with his thugs, and I can’t let that happen! I’m sworn to protect you!” He pumped all of the desperate pleading he could into his performance.

Samuel fumed as he considered what he was hearing. He looked into Silas’ eyes. His expression had turned from fury to resolve. “Where is this Ming?”

Silas would have smiled, had his life not depended on it. He had the boy right where he wanted, after all.

4 DAMAGE CONTROL

Jay’s transport exited the sky-lane with a view of at least fifty vehicles surrounding the Psy-Corp transport, crash site. His driver brought them up to the perimeter set up by his Halo Tech team. Jay surveyed the damage through the tinted windows of his car, as the driver unfolded the wheels and settled down on the road.

They drove along a new path worn through the grass by the emergency response vehicles. Flashing red, blue, and yellow lights blanketed the entire site in a cacophony of glare. The large cylindrical Psy-Corp transport lay on its side. Medical technicians worked with bodies near the cab, five in all.

Todd Metz appeared, coming through the crowd toward Jay as he exited his limousine. He looked harrowed in his loose tie and dirty suit. “It’s a mess, sir,” he said.

“What’s the damage?” Jay asked.

“Five dead, including Dr. Andre Sarkov, all shot to death. There are three survivors. I’ve got them waiting for you near my car. They were a little banged up from the crash, but otherwise unharmed.”

Jay slapped a hand on Todd’s shoulder. “All right, take me to them.”

The pair weaved through the crowd, which included volunteers from several local fire departments, medical response teams, and local police officers. Jay noticed an FBI transport as they made their way toward Todd’s company limo. The three survivors, dressed in scrub clothes, were all sitting in the back. “They’ve already been treated and released by the medical team,” Todd said.

Jay grabbed one of the rear door handles. “Good, then we’ll talk inside.” He opened the door and climbed inside with Todd following. Jay and Todd sat opposite the two women and one man who had come through the incident with their lives. “I want you to tell me what happened in the rear compartment,” Jay said.

One of the women, a nurse, spoke up. “It was a group of mercenaries, or something, Dr. Young, with an oriental man leading them. They only wanted Samuel Stokes.”

Jay smiled wanly. “Let me offer my condolences for your friends who were killed. We’re going to do everything we can to find out who did this and why.”

The surviving man spoke up. “But sir, what about Samuel Stokes? I’ve seen what he can do and—”

Jay interrupted. “Believe me, Stokes is our number one priority here. I’ve also seen what he can do. The last thing we want is for his abilities to fall into the wrong hands.”

“Actually, sir,” the man said, “I feel sorry for those terrorists. I don’t think they realize what they’ve gotten themselves into.”

•

Silas sat uneasy in his railcar seat as Samuel breathed deeply next to him, his eyes closed. Their underground transit system allowed members of the Ring to travel to various secret locations in order to avoid police detection. There were updated Meisner systems available, but most generated strong magnetic fields making them easier to detect by the authorities.

The car pulled into a small receiving station filled with more railcars. Silas got out on one side, and Samuel exited on the other, opening his eyes only then. “We’re in luck,” Silas suggested. “Their leader, Ming, is meeting here with the five heads of the Ring.”

“My only concern is Ming,” Samuel said.

“Yeah, but what you don’t understand is that they all work together. If you eliminate Ming, another of these five will automatically assume his position. They’ll never stop coming after you.”

“Oh, I’ll stop them.” Samuel started toward a set of double doors where two guards had been stationed. He grabbed the right side of his head and stopped. Silas caught up to him. “Are you all right, Samuel?”

Samuel gritted his teeth, then straightened up. “I’m fine. Take me to them.”

A long corridor with red carpet stretched out before them. The stainless steel panels on the walls gleamed. They hung interspersed with a dark polished hardwood, adding a touch of natural to their refinement.

Silas walked just ahead of Samuel. He hoped his assumption, about the boy not being capable of reading minds, was correct. It had occurred to him, by now, that he truly could not control this boy’s power by force. Coercion remained his only hope for survival and the chief means by which he could assume power over the Ring and its vast resources.

The guards allowed Silas to pass with his guest. Large stainless steel doors stood ahead of them at the end of the corridor. “Is that where they are?” Samuel asked.

The lock on the door popped as Samuel approached. By the boy’s will, the doors swung open into the room. Multiple guns snapped to firing position in the hands of the many bodyguards spread throughout the room. Samuel walked in with Silas following. Ming raised his right hand, stopping the guards from firing. He rose from his chair.

The five heads of the Ring sat at a large, wooden table with Ming at the far end, directly opposite the door. His expression of cautious anxiety turned to anger when he noticed Silas coming into the room behind the boy. “Silas, what is the meaning of this interruption?”

Silas stood at Samuel’s side. “Isn’t it clear? You hunted this young man and thought to hold him prisoner for your own gain. Samuel wanted to come and let you know he’s not standing for it.”

“This is outrageous!” said one of the five heads.

“It’s no use for any of you to try and weasel your way out,” Silas said. “I’ve already told Samuel the truth and blown my cover in order to rescue him.”

Ming’s mouth fell open. “Your cover?” He stammered, furious, then turned to Samuel. “Look, young man, I’m not sure what Silas has told you, but he’s lying to you. He’s no more an undercover agent than I am.”

The twenty bodyguards within the room took aim and fired their submachine guns. Laser sights flashed across Samuel and Silas, as he pulled his own gun from its holster under his coat. The five heads of the Ring launched out of their high backed chairs toward the floor, taking cover. Ming stood confidently, smiling at the two men about to die.

Samuel’s eyes grew wide. Hundreds of bullets drove through the air at over twenty six hundred feet per second. His mind cast a net which ensnared all of them, altering their trajectory. The swarm of projectiles flew into orbit around his body, then back toward the guards who had fired them. In affect, each guard riddled his own body with bullets.

Silas had flinched reflexively, realizing he was about to be gunned down, but Samuel never moved. Within three seconds the gunfire had ceased, and the last of the burly bodyguards fell to the ground asphyxiating in his own blood. Gun smoke hung in the air. Ming’s confidence morphed into disbelief and fear.

Samuel stood scowling at Ming. Silas couldn’t believe what he had just seen. He trembled, realizing how close he had just come to death and the power which had prevented it. Though he longed to use that power, he wondered if he had made a deal with the devil which would ultimately come to his own horrible end. Silas decided it was too late to turn back now.

Samuel boiled with rage, and his breathing grew heavier. “Did you think you could just do anything you wanted?” he shouted. The five heads of the Ring levitated off of the floor. Several tried to grab the table, or their chairs, hoping to anchor themselves, but they all slipped away into the air under Samuel’s mental grip.

Ming also floated up, joining the other five suspended six feet up. “But it wasn’t—” Ming tried to say.

“I don’t want to hear your lies!” Samuel shouted. Instantly their whimpering voices silenced. The men grabbed at their throats, choking. They writhed in the air like worms upon hooks. Samuel’s expression grew pained. “I’m not going to be hunted anymore. I’ve been prodded like an animal long enough! You heartless cowards!”

When Samuel said the word heartless, the thoracic cavities of all six men exploded outward, as though their hearts had been ticking time bombs within their chests. Blood splashed across the round table with sickening finality. Samuel’s tension filled body relaxed, and the bodies of Ming and the five heads of the Ring fell to the carpeted floor like two hundred pound rag dolls.

Silas tried to swallow the growing lump in his throat. On one hand, he had used the boy’s power and just become the sole leader of the Ring. On the other hand, he felt like someone trying to control the release of a hydrogen bomb.

Samuel turned to him, his breathing becoming normal again. “Take me back to Psy-Corp,” he said.

Silas surveyed the room once more. He had no choice. “All right kid, if that’s what you want.” He had started back toward the door when Samuel caught his arm.

“Silas, remember what you’ve seen today,” Samuel warned. “You better be telling the truth.”

5 FEDERAL CASE

Jay stood, looking out the back wall of his office through the ceiling-to-floor windows, allowing him a view of Imperial City’s high rise business district. Skyscrapers, much higher than those he remembered from his childhood, raked the passing clouds. From his penthouse office, he watched a puffy white bundle of cotton drift into the building and then disperse around it with the wind.

All appeared peaceful this high up, but the last twenty-four hours had sobered Jay about the follies of perception. It could change in a heartbeat, and had. A danger unlike any he had ever encountered had been unleashed.

A chime sounded, and the voice of his receptionist, Lily, came through his office speaker system. “Sir, an agent with the FBI is here to see you.”

Jay sighed. “Thank you, Lily, please send him in.”

“Yes, sir.”

The honey colored door to Jay’s office opened. An oriental man with a crew cut stepped through the door, wearing a dark mod-style suit and thin tie. Ultra retro had been in for some time now, and this particular fashion had made its rounds through popular culture four times already. “Good evening, Dr. Young, my name is Daniel Wong, Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” He removed a digital ID card showing his picture and designation with the FBI. Had Jay wanted, he could have scanned the card to be sure Wong was the genuine article, but he was sure Lily had done it already.

Jay motioned for him to take one of the seats in front of his desk. “Please sit down.” Jay sat behind his desk—a polished black cube made of composite materials, housing a network computer which allowed him instant access to all information concerning Halo Tech Enterprises.

“What can I do for you, Agent Wong?”

Agent Wong sat down in the chair, smiled cheerfully at Jay, then began. “Dr. Young, I work within a task force that investigates the criminal activities of the organization known as the Ring. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?”

Jay’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, I know of it…who doesn’t in Imperial City?”

“Indeed, but I imagine you have a more intimate knowledge, since you were briefly abducted by them as a teenager.”

“I was abducted by Trenton Hallowed,” Jay said. “If he was working with the Ring, I suppose you would know more about it than me.”

Agent Wong smiled again. He looked like a tourist about to snap Jay’s picture. “That would be the same Trenton Hallowed who previously held the majority stock share in your company?”

“The same, along with his cousin, Jonathan Hallowed. They co-owned the companies started by their fathers, but I would have thought you already knew that.”

Agent Wong smiled again. “I did. Trenton Hallowed conducted genetic research under the Genetic Corp name, then went on an insane rampage throughout the city. Correct, Dr. Young?”

“Yes,” Jay said.

“I believe Halo Tech was also involved in part of that research wasn’t it, Dr. Young?”

Jay leaned forward. “I believe we’ve already established that Trenton Hallowed owned both companies, Agent Wong. Of course, he could do anything with them he wanted.”

“Hmm, yes, very interesting,” Agent Wong said politely. “I’m curious, Dr. Young. What have you been doing with the company since acquiring it from Jonathan Hallowed, upon his death?”

Jay made sure not to smile. Agent Wong did not realize that Jonathan had never contested the death certificate made when he was gunned down in Trenton’s lab thirty years ago. As far as anyone knew, he had been killed, and the body stolen by Trenton Hallowed, never to be recovered. Detective Michael Stamos had never revealed Jonathan’s involvement in Trenton’s capture. The company had passed to Joseph through Jonathan’s will, and from Joseph to Jay after he graduated from medical school.

Jay steepled his fingers on the desk in front of him. “Agent Wong, since I’m sure you’re driving at something, what do you say we cut the chit-chat?”

Agent Wong’s smile faded to a thin line. “Very well, Dr. Young, we know this company has been responsible for extremely dangerous projects like Dr. Hallowed’s mutagenic experiments, and we also know the sort of research Dr. Sarkov was involved in with his company, Psy-Corp, before you acquired it. Although it doesn’t appear that he had much success, Sarkov worked within a eugenics framework trying to forward human evolution.”

“Agent Wong, it’s true Sarkov hoped to do exactly as you say, but his work hasn’t been successful. In fact, the reason I chose to purchase Psy-Corp was to put an end to the sort of research Sarkov had been doing. Part of his work involved genetically engineered embryos. I wanted to be sure that the resulting children were removed from Sarkov’s research and cared for. Psy-Corp has been a money pit for Halo Tech, nothing more.”

Agent Wong smiled again, but only slightly. “That brings me to my next question, Dr. Young. Who were they looking for?”

“Excuse me?”

“Sarkov’s transport was a medical unit. We have pilots, medical personnel and Dr. Sarkov among those onboard, but there is no record of who they were transporting, presumably under full anesthesia. The Ring went to considerable effort to bring down Sarkov’s medical transport. Who did they take, Dr. Young, and why?”

Jay sighed. “As I’ve said, there were children produced through Sarkov’s research. The children didn’t live very long after puberty and many suffered psychotic breaks before they died. Samuel Stokes was the last of Sarkov’s engineered children. To my knowledge, Sarkov was transporting Stokes to one of his testing facilities in order to provide more appropriate care.”

“Samuel Stokes?” Agent Wong spoke into his digital ID card. The card brought up a list of ID photos and references from the World Database located in Rome. “What is the boy’s WCC?”

“Samuel doesn’t have a World Citizen Code Number,” Jay said. “He was a lab grown embryo. Sarkov never registered any of them.”

“Why do you suppose the Ring would want to kidnap the boy?”

“Money perhaps? I’d certainly be willing to pay in order to see the boy safely returned. By all means, if any ransom demands come through, I’ll be sure to let you know.” Jay looked at the holographic clock on his desk. “I’m late to pick up my daughter. Was there anything else, Agent Wong?”

Agent Wong stood. “At the moment, no, but I’m sure we’ll speak again, Dr. Young. Good day.” He turned, walked toward the door, and let himself out.

Jay watched him go, then released the breath he had been half holding during the entire interview. He hadn’t lied to the agent, but he certainly had not given full disclosure either. Jay hoped the FBI would find Samuel safe and sound, but he imagined reality would come out far worse.

6 PSY-CORP

Dusk had crept across the horizon by the time Silas, and Samuel began their journey toward Psy-Corp laboratories, deep inside Imperial City’s business district in Hilton. Heavy traffic packed the multiple sky-lanes as people traveled home from the daily grind. Jams never occurred within the sky lane. The master computer database for the system controlled every aspect of travel within, keeping a brisk pace.

Once again, Samuel remained silent during the trip. Silas wondered how he could best make use of the boy and how he could gain sufficient control without getting himself killed in the process. “What are your plans, once you reach Psy-Corp, Samuel?”

Samuel turned to him, his expression cold. “Make them pay.”

“Look kid, I understand you’ve got this whole vendetta thing going, but if you continue on this rampage they’ll hunt us down and—”

“I didn’t ask you to come,” Samuel said.

“Hey, kid, I saved your life.” Silas hoped that ace card would keep his own life sacred in the boy’s eyes.

“That’s the only reason you’re not dead,” Samuel said. “If you don’t want to risk a confrontation with the authorities, then don’t come with me. I’ve been under their control my whole life. I’m through running.”

Silas’ gut told him he should abandon the boy to whatever was coming. He had a golden opportunity to simply go back and take control of the Ring, now that Ming and the others were out of his way. Instead, he sank back into his seat. If it was possible to have control of this power, then his ambition told him to stay the course. “Is there someone in particular you’re going after?”

Samuel considered the question. “I don’t want them around to do this to anyone else. Psy-Corp will be removed. But first, I need some information.”

“What kind of information?”

“I’m not the only one of my kind left.” Samuel looked at Silas. “We can get what I need from their database.”

•

Several minutes later, Samuel and Silas left his car parked outside the main entrance to the Psy-Corp building. Skyscrapers drove into the sky in every direction around Psy-Corp’s laboratory, making the squat two story rectangle seem insignificant. The two men walked through the stylish, stainless steel, main doors bearing the Psy-Corp moniker—a silhouette head, and shoulders with a white lightning bolt where the face should be.

They passed through a metal detection arch, which beeped at Silas’ handgun hidden beneath his jacket. A security guard stepped forward to stop them. Samuel looked at him. The guard fell away, grabbing his throat.

Samuel knew this building well. He’d spent his entire life here. Silas followed him, waiting for the need to use a little muscle. So far, the kid had it all covered.

Samuel took a right turn at the first intersection. Stainless steel doors stood ahead of them emblazoned with a warning, “Authorized Personnel Only.” Samuel kept going. The doors moved out of his way. Another set of doors held fast with a security input pad mounted to the right on the wall. Samuel blew them wide open anyway.

Several scientists in lab coats practically jumped out of their skins at the intrusion. An orangutan stirred in his drug induced stupor. The animal sat strapped into a surgical chair with his skull cap removed and electrodes inserted into various places around his cerebral cortex.

Silas stared at the display. “What in the world are you people doing?”

Samuel glared at the two men and three women in the room, all wearing surgical masks. “What they do best here.” He looked at one of the men and addressed him. “Hello, Frankenstein.”

One of the doctors stood up and pulled down his mask, revealing a neatly trimmed goatee. “Samuel, I’m glad to see you safe. We heard you might have been killed.” The man looked extremely nervous. Stokes had been the last person they wanted to see.

“Don’t you mean you hoped I had been killed?” Samuel retorted.

“The truth hurts doesn’t it, Dr. Keller?” Samuel noticed something in Silas’ eyes—fear. He turned back to Dr. Keller. “I asked you a question, Frankenstein…do you know Silas?”

Dr. Keller looked at Silas, but hesitated.

Silas spoke up instead. “Go ahead, Keller. I’ve already blown my cover. Samuel knows I was a plant within the Ring, sent to rescue him.”

Samuel watched Keller’s reaction. Confusion crossed his expression for a moment. “He’s lying isn’t he, Frankenstein?”

Keller looked back and forth between Silas and Samuel. “No, of course not…I just wasn’t sure how much Silas had told you, that’s all.” Keller’s hand lashed out toward the mayo tray full of surgical instruments. He tried to stop it. His hand picked up a scalpel and his elbow folded, trying to stab the instrument into his own chest. He caught his arm with his other hand, fighting to keep the blade at bay. He looked at Samuel, terrified, and then back to the scalpel hovering over his heart. “Stop it, Samuel!”

Samuel simply watched, waiting. “The truth, Frankenstein.”

Silas watched the scene unfold. His hand trembled. Sweat rolled down his face.

Keller’s hand began to overpower him. The blade dropped closer, despite his best efforts to keep it at bay. The other people in the lab watched, horrified. One of the women cried. Dr. Keller grimaced. “All right, all right, Samuel!” Keller screamed. “Silas hired several of us to help him take you from Dr. Sarkov. He works for the Ring!”

Silas instantly went for the pistol under his coat as Keller got his arm under control again. He drew the weapon quick, like an old west gunslinger, and leveled the barrel on the back of Samuel’s head. Silas tried to pull the trigger, but couldn’t do it.

Samuel slowly turned toward him. Silas brought his other hand to the gun trying to put more pressure on the trigger, but he still couldn’t squeeze it.

“I warned you not to lie to me, Silas,” Samuel said.

The gun dropped down toward Silas’ legs and fired, unloading the ammunition clip. His knees and lower legs exploded under the gunfire, and Silas went down screaming to the floor. He cursed at Samuel—his pain and anger overriding his fear as he writhed in a pool of blood on the tile floor.

Samuel turned back to Dr. Keller and the others. “Sorry about that. You just can’t find good help these days. Now, Frankenstein, I want to know where she is.”

A female lab assistant, broke down. “For crying out loud, Steve, tell him where the girl is before he kills us all!” One of the other women held her, trying to console her distraught co-worker.

“Yeah, Steve, that would be a good idea,” Samuel said.

Dr. Keller looked at the others, then at Silas Chang shuddering in pain on the floor. The gangster appeared to have slipped into hypovolemic shock. Dr. Keller realized he had little choice, but to comply. He’d seen firsthand the extent of the boy’s telekinetic power during the many tests done on the children living at the lab as part of the Halo Project. “All right, Samuel. I’ll give you what we have in the database on the girl; just don’t hurt any of us.”

Samuel said nothing, but gestured toward the computer console nearby. Dr. Keller sat down and began typing commands in order to access the information. He negotiated through several password barriers, soon arriving at a particular file.

Samuel stepped near Dr. Keller and read the information about the girl, filing her image away in his photographic memory. Everything Psy-Corp knew about her burned into his mind.

Samuel turned, walking toward the doors he had entered by. The others in the room remained terrified. Dr. Keller spoke up. “Samuel, is that it? Where are you going?”

Samuel kept walking toward the doors and through. “Enjoy your little experiments while they last, Frankenstein.”

•

Silas writhed on the floor, trying to get inside his jacket. “Keller, help me!”

Dr. Keller and some of the others went to Silas and tried to help him. His legs were still bleeding profusely. One of the scientists tried wrapping his belt around one of Silas’ thighs to provide a tourniquet and stem the blood flow.

Silas pulled a cell from his pocket and tapped the button. A man’s voice came over the speaker. “Silas, are you all right?”

“I’ve been shot up, Joe. The kid turned on me. I think he took my car when he left here. Find him and end him!”

“Can do, Silas…I’ve got your tracking signal already. Looks like he’s heading north. I’m gonna send someone for you, just stay put. I’ll send out some guys for the kid, too.”

Silas dropped the cell phone on the floor. “I feel like I’m going to puke.”

Dr. Keller finished wrapping his belt around Silas’ other thigh. “You’ve lost a lot of blood, Silas. What in the world were you thinking, bringing him here?”

Silas glared at the doctor. “Have you ever tried arguing with him? Oh, I forgot you were the guy who almost stabbed himself in the chest.”

Dr. Keller cinched up the belt to make it tight, causing Silas to wince for pain. “I never should have helped you take him from Sarkov. He’s too dangerous...his mind is going.”

“It didn’t bother you taking the money, Doc. Besides, I’m the bigger loser in this thing. I had a big contract for that kid.”

Dr. Keller stopped, sopping up blood for a moment. “A contract with whom?”

Silas grinned. “Don’t worry about it, Doc. Let’s just say the powers that be want him pretty bad—enough to pay me more than I ever made working for the Ring.”

•

Samuel looked out over the city toward the Psy-Corp building from a parking garage on a hillside several miles away. He had parked Silas Chang’s car here in order to complete what he had begun at Psy-Corp. Samuel breathed in deeply and let the air escape slowly.

Darkness swept over the city as the last rays of sunlight faded beyond the horizon. Samuel focused, causing an explosion that blew out the east wall of a skyscraper across the highway from the Psy-Corp building. Seconds later, he heard the massive boom.

Samuel’s expression intensified. He used his telekinesis, causing several more explosions that scooped out the innards of the same skyscraper on the east side facing the squat rectangular block that was Psy-Corp. Debris blew out across the four lane highway, covering cars and buses with chunks of concrete and steel.

Samuel remained transfixed on the skyscraper as the explosions continued. Massive amounts of the building’s superstructure blasted away in every direction. A final blast shook the entire area, including the place where Samuel stood. The boy released the power he had been wielding and stepped back from the retaining wall, winded by the experience.

The building listed to the side, slowly at first. Then as the sound of twisting metal and shattered glass reached his ears, the skyscraper fell over like an old drunk, collapsing onto the Psy-Corp building and several smaller structures located around it.

The impact sounded like an atom bomb, sending a tsunami of gray dust roiling out through the streets of the city. A plume of fire shot skyward above the devastated Psy-Corp complex.

Samuel turned away, sliding down the concrete retaining wall to sit on the ground. He managed a little laugh through his labored breathing. “Goodbye, Frankenstein. No more experiments for you. Goodbye, Silas. I told you not to lie to me.”

Samuel closed his eyes, relaxing. No one would be able to control him now. The girl remained. He had been able to feel her power in some way he couldn’t even describe—sometimes a stronger feeling where he almost pictured her in his mind.

Samuel imagined her young, fragile, in need of someone to guide her in the use of her power. He pictured himself in that role. Now, to find her. At least, he knew where to start.

7 DANGEROUS

Jay watched his adopted daughter playing with a holo-puzzle at a table on the other side of his office. Normally, she occupied an entertainment cubicle he had set up for her to use after picking her up from school. Jay continued with his own work while she completed homework and then watched holo-casts until his day was finished. Jay had too much on his mind today.

His assistant, Todd Metz, had interrupted his shower last night to have him turn on the newscast. The Psy-Corp building had been destroyed less than an hour before. The holo-cast had shown Psy-Corp completely flattened by the American Standard Bank building, residing to the west, across Chesapeake Highway. A series of explosions, erupting from the bank, had killed motorists traveling home on the highway, just before the entire building came down right on top of Psy-Corp.

Samuel Stokes had never been spotted. The news had not mentioned his name, nor any plausible explanations for the spontaneous explosions within the bank. Experts remained baffled—a robbery gone wrong, or an act of terrorism—no one knew. Unfortunately, Jay did. This incident had Samuel Stokes written all over it. The only question that remained—what would he do next?

Jay looked at the clock. 10:35 a.m. He had not sent Margot to school today. The possibility of Stokes on the rampage made him want his little girl nearby, just in case an emergency situation arose. Jay waited for the chime to sound, alerting him to Todd Metz and Agent Wong’s arrival for a special meeting.

Jay looked out the window across the city. Ten miles away, he saw a plume of dust and smoke rising into the early morning sky—all that remained of Psy-Corp and the bank which had destroyed it. The chime sounded, followed by Lily’s voice. “Mr. Metz and Agent Wong have arrived, Dr. Young.”

Jay saw Margot eye him curiously. “Thank you, Lily. Please show them in.”

“Yes, Dr. Young.” She appeared almost instantly, opening the door to allow Agent Wong inside, followed by a very nervous looking Todd Metz.”

Jay looked at Margot. “Honey, would you please excuse us? Maybe you could hang out with Lily for just a bit, okay?”

The eight-year-old girl, with soft brunette curls, stood up and nodded. She blew her father a kiss with a smile, then dodged past Metz and Wong. Lily, a distinguished, middle-aged Asian woman nodded to Jay, then closed the door after them.

Agent Wong strode toward Jay’s desk, taking up residence in one of the guest chairs. “I was surprised to hear from you so soon, Dr. Young. I’ve visited the Psy-Corp disaster site already this morning. Very strange business, wouldn’t you say?”

Todd Metz took up the chair beside Agent Wong. He was sweating profusely, despite the relatively cool temperature in the room.

Jay stood up and began to walk around his desk. “Agent Wong, I’ve not been very up front with you about Samuel Stokes, the boy who was kidnapped.”

Agent Wong didn’t appear the least bit surprised by the admission. “Really, in what way, Dr. Young?”

Jay stopped his pacing and looked directly into Agent Wong’s eyes. “I believe Samuel Stokes brought that bank down on top of Psy-Corp last night.”

Agent Wong looked amused. “Just how do you suppose he did that? I mean no one has seen the boy…certainly, he wasn’t spotted at the scene last night.”

Jay remained stoic. “He did it with his mind.”

Agent Wong pooched his bottom lip slightly, nodding stupidly. He didn’t believe a word of it. “Okay, well I can see you think my time is cheap. I can assure you, Dr. Young, it isn’t.” He got up to leave.

“Perhaps, I can prove it to you with this.” Jay pressed a touch screen menu on the surface of his desk, and a holo-display snapped into view. The video file began to play a scene from Psy-Corp’s test library—this one involving a younger Samuel Stokes. Agent Wong stood silent, watching the video footage with fascination.

Within the holographic image, Samuel Stokes concentrated upon a cinderblock wall until it burst, throwing fragments halfway across a Psy-Corp test chamber. Further image clips showed Samuel starting and putting out fires, facing off against combat androids, and controlling a pool of water so that it assumed various forms, moving about the room, at least until he lost focus. The water splashed down upon the floor as the boy became tired.

Jay motioned toward the boy in the image. “This is Samuel Stokes, Agent Wong.” The cycle of images continued to play, showing one amazing test after another.

Jay fielded the question. “He’s unstable. Precisely the reason I’ve been against this sort of research. I purchased Psy-Corp to prevent it. You see, all of the children who were produced in Sarkov’s embryonic experiments suffered psychotic breaks, beginning after the onset of puberty. Some of them died on their own. Others, Sarkov had to euthanize because they had become too dangerous. Samuel was the last one. As you can see, he’s become a serious threat.”

“Is that where Sarkov was taking him—to kill him?”

Jay looked at Todd, then back to Wong. “Yes. Although, I had been led to believe that Samuel had already died. It was only when I was notified by Todd about Sarkov’s transport being hijacked that I knew Stokes was still alive. I’d say it’s pretty obvious why the Ring would want Stokes.”

Wong nodded. “Yes, he would make a very powerful weapon, if they could control him.”

“I’d say he’s already beyond their control,” Jay said. “Psy-Corp is the company that created Stokes. Sarkov was trying to destroy him. The Ring wouldn’t bother with hitting Psy-Corp, but Stokes has a personal vendetta against them. I just hope he’s satisfied with what he’s done.”

Agent Wong shook his head. “I would be surprised if that were the case, Dr. Young. Rarely does someone like Stokes stop once he’s gotten his revenge. It’s very likely he’ll be looking for a new target for his rage.”

Todd looked at Agent Wong. “I don’t understand.”

“You see, the desire for vengeance is usually left unsatisfied, once this type of person attains it. They’re still angry and so they fixate on something else.” Agent Wong looked Jay in the face. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be you, and Halo Tech.”

“Why would you say that?” Jay asked.

“Your company purchased Psy-Corp, and it remained under your control until it was destroyed. In a court of law that makes you responsible—in the eyes of an enraged teenager, I’d say even more so.”

Jay considered the possibility. It sounded plausible.

Todd interrupted. “Halo Tech didn’t have anything to do with Sarkov’s research. Dr. Young was trying to prevent those atrocities from ever happening again.”

Agent Wong turned to him. “Have you ever tried to reason with a psychopath, Mr. Metz?” An alert chimed from Agent Wong’s ID card. He pulled the card from his pocket and activated it. A message began with a male voice. “Daniel, this just came across the wire.” A holo-cast began to play above the surface of the ID card.

The face of a female news reporter addressed the audience. “Police were notified of a multiple homicide by an unknown source this morning. The victims in this massacre were all alleged members of the high profile, criminal organization known as the Ring, operating across the nation. Among the slain was the elder mastermind of the operation, a man known only as Ming. Investigators are baffled by the evidence on the scene which seems to indicate most of the security personnel shot themselves. The cause of death for Ming and the other senior members remains a mystery.”

Agent Wong stopped the news coverage and looked at Jay. “It looks like Stokes has gotten loose, just like you thought.”

Jay grew nervous. “So what now?”

“I’d suggest that we put you and your family into protective custody, just in case he decides to come after you. Since he has apparently already brought down one building, you should probably evacuate your people from Halo Tech, until we find him.”

Todd acknowledged Jay’s concerned glance. “I’m on it, sir.” Todd tapped into a cell and prepared to give instructions to the department heads.

Agent Wong stood up. “Is there anything else you can give me on Stokes besides this file? Any weaknesses you know of?”

Jay thought for a moment about his limited visits to see Sarkov and the children. “I do remember two things. First, Sarkov told me that Samuel has trouble affecting things outside of his visual range. Secondly, he gets tired after exerting himself. I’d say bringing that bank down on top of Psy-Corp has really taxed him. He’ll probably have to rest at least a whole day, before doing anything significant.”

Agent Wong made a mental note of it. “Thank you, Dr. Young. Keep me posted if you run across anything else that might help us stop him. I’m going to get on the horn and try to get some help on this.”

Jay stood to see the agent out. “I’d say you’ll need it.”

“I can at least say one thing for the kid…he’s done away with a major problem. We never could touch the men running the Ring, through the courts. Stokes has done Imperial City a favor,” Agent Wong mused.

Jay gave him an unsure look. Agent Wong stifled a laugh. “Don’t look so surprised, Dr. Young. I’m a realist. Those men were about as guilty as anyone could be, but they operated above the law. I can appreciate justice, even when it comes from outside the system.” Agent Wong tapped his ID card and slipped it into the download slot on the holo-reader. The file on Stokes downloaded within a second, then pinged.

He removed the card, replacing it in his jacket pocket. “I’ll be in touch, Dr. Young. Get your people out of here as soon as you can.”

Jay nodded, watching him go. He turned to Todd, still waiting with his cell phone. “Should I give the evacuation order, sir?”

“Tell the department managers to send everyone home, but don’t call it an evacuation. I don’t want panic. In the meantime, I’ve got a special job for you to take care of.”

8 CRYONICS

Jay descended in the magnetic lift deep into the bowels of the Halo Tech building. He had sent Lily with Margot to a safe house and gone throughout the building meeting with department heads while this final matter was attended to. He couldn’t leave without this one person.

The lift opened at sub level ten located nearly one hundred feet below ground. Jay had been required to produce his ID card and a retinal scan to even enter this particular lift. Only two other individuals had the clearance to get this far, Todd Metz being one. The other individual stood waiting at the lift door.

“Dr. Mathers, how are you?” Jay asked as he exited. A middle-aged Caucasian with slicked back, white hair rubbed his hands nervously in the corridor.

“Well, a little surprised to tell you the truth, Dr. Young.” The two men walked together down a short corridor where a coded vault door waited. Dr. Mathers entered his code, hit enter, and then scanned his retina. The vault door opened smoothly. “I know you wanted to proceed hurriedly, Jay, but these things take some time.”

“Apparently not. Sarkov was trying to do just that, when the Ring sent people to kidnap him. Some of Sarkov’s staff were working with them.”

“What could they possibly do with the boy—offer him for ransom?” Mathers asked.

Jay rubbed the back of his head. “They wanted a weapon. He’s killed some of them and escaped. Samuel also flattened the Psy-Corp laboratory last night—dropped the American Standard Bank building on top of it.”

“The FBI is working the case now, and they feel Samuel might target Halo Tech as the controlling force behind Psy-Corp.” Jay started walking further into the vault chamber. “I hope they’re wrong, but we can’t take any chances. That’s why we have to get Jonathan out of here.”

Dr. Mathers led Jay to a chemical chamber where Jonathan Hallowed’s cryonically preserved body floated within a bath of pink fluid. “I began the emergence process as soon as you told me.” Intravenous tethers linked Jonathan’s body to a control module located on the outside of the tank. Plastic bags of plasma, whole blood, and electrolyte solutions hung from an IV pole mounted on the unit. “He’s receiving fluid transfusions now…probably take another two hours to complete the process, including starting his heart again and bringing his body temperature up to normal parameters.”

Jay watched his friend and mentor floating lifeless in the tank. He had wanted for so long to wake the man who had changed his life, but the cure for the hyper-metabolism, caused by Trenton Hallowed’s mutagen, had never come to fruition. Now, Jay had no choice. He couldn’t simply leave him here to die in the same sort of disaster Stokes had wrought upon Psy-Corp. “I’m going to go back upstairs and make sure everyone gets out safely. I’ll bring some dinner when I come back in a few hours.”

“I’d appreciate it, Jay. I’m not sure if Jonathan we’ll be in the mood for solid food yet, but I’d sure like something—maybe a sirloin, if anyone is still in the cafeteria to cook it?”

Jay turned to go. “I’ll see what I can rustle up. Take care of Jonathan for me.”

“He’s in good hands,” Mathers assured him.

Jay walked back toward the vault entrance. He glanced to his right at a steel chamber left unmarked, save for the small backlit interface displaying temperature data and structural integrity of the cell within. Jay shuddered, remembering the beast caged within this special cryo vault.

Trenton Hallowed remained entombed there. Jay had often thought about destroying the remains of the Nemesis creature Trenton Hallowed had become. He had never been able to bring himself to do it. Trenton Hallowed might still hold the final key to saving Jonathan—too dangerous to awaken, too valuable to destroy.

Jay continued toward the vault entrance. He entered his code, and the massive door allowed him to exit. He glanced at the emergency ladder tube which accessed the street level directly, then kept walking. He punched in his code at the elevator and waited. The doors opened, he stepped inside. Just a few more hours and they could get out of the Halo Tech building. He only hoped it would be enough time.

9 DIRECTIVES

Agent Daniel Wong descended several stories underground within the Federal Building, located on the west side of Hilton. When the elevator doors opened, several guards waited in the corridor armed with machine guns. A plexiglass arch stood between the guards and Agent Wong.

The guards watched him as he left the elevator and approached the retinal scanner located on the right side of the arch. Daniel placed his face in the chin cup, waiting while his retinal pattern was identified. He then spoke his password into the vocoder. A chime indicated a correct identification, and the static field held within the arch dissipated.

Daniel walked through the arch, giving a slight nod to the guards as he passed. Beyond, stood the door to the office of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Martin Cash. The director had his own office in every state. Daniel had only met the man twice—once at his swearing in ceremony and another time at a dinner honoring the former director before passing the torch.

Daniel stood at the black door and waited until a female voice responded to his presence. “Identify please.”

“Special Agent, Daniel Wong, to see Mr. Cash.”

The black door slid to the left inside the door frame with the slightest whisper. Daniel walked inside the office of the director’s personal assistant. He saw that the voice coming over the speaker in the door belonged to a young woman of Indian descent. Her dark hair fell around her shoulders. She did not smile when she looked at him. “Mr. Cash will see you now.”

Daniel nodded. “Thank you.” Then he went to the next door. It slid aside for him. Beyond, sat the desk of the director. He motioned for Daniel to come inside from his brown leather chair. “Please take a seat, Agent Wong. I trust you’ve acquired some interesting information for us?”

Daniel sat down in one of the two chairs situated before the large wooden desk. “I have indeed, sir.” Daniel removed his ID card and placed it in the reader slot built into Mr. Cash’s desk. The holo-display instantly accessed the data files and displayed icons for each. Daniel tapped the floating icon labeled “Samuel Stokes.”

Mr. Cash watched the image through steepled fingers. Stokes performed each test, mastering greater complexity with his power. Cash’s right eyebrow rose as he watched the boy manipulate the stream of water. “Very interesting.” He leaned forward, watching Stokes blow apart an old surplus M-1 tank. “Impressive.”

“Daniel, do you have any idea how valuable this kind of power could be to us? Why, the research alone is worth billions…imagine the possibilities…if we could produce an army of these people, they would tip the balance of power in the world.”

Daniel cleared his throat. “Sir, the boy is out of control. He’s already killed Dr. Sarkov and everyone else at Psy-Corp, not to mention wiping out the men behind the Ring.”

“I thought Sarkov was killed by the hijackers.”

“Yes, sir, he was, but my point is that Stokes destroyed Psy-Corp out of revenge. No one has been able to control him. What he did in that video footage is only the beginning of his power. Dr. Young, over at Halo Tech, told me the boy has become even more powerful since going through puberty.”

Mr. Cash was still staring at the video rather than listening to Daniel’s warning. “More power? That’s a good thing. The more valuable he will be to us.”

“Sir, the research at Psy-Corp has been destroyed…Stokes saw to that personally. We don’t have any idea how to replicate what he was doing—”

“That’s why it’s so imperative that we get the boy.” Mr. Cash stood up and walked around the desk. “Daniel, I understand you have concerns, but this comes straight from the Director of National Intelligence.”

Daniel nodded. “Yes, sir, I understand.”

“We’ll give you anything you need, but we want the boy captured alive. Anything you can uncover that might help us to hold the boy’s loyalty would obviously be invaluable, as well.”

Daniel stood. “I’ll do the best I can, sir.”

Mr. Cash patted him on the shoulder and turned him toward the door. “I’m sure you will, my boy, I’m sure you will.”

10 REVENGE

Joey Fortello watched the GPS map and the blinking dot representing Silas Chang’s car. He clenched his teeth, thinking about his former crew boss. He had sent some of his people to retrieve Silas the night before, only to have them all killed when the bank building, across the highway, came down on top of the Psy-Corp Laboratory.

Silas’ black BMW sedan drove down Tenth Street ahead of them. “This is it, boys. Payback time. Cut him off at the next light.”

Joey’s driver nodded. “I’m on it.” Three gunmen sat ready in the rear seat with machine guns. A black van followed behind with even more men and weapons. Joey had no intention of taking any chances. “Remember, the kid’s dangerous. Don’t give him a chance to use those powers of his. We hit him hard and fast. Remember what he did to our crew.”

•

Samuel sat back in the driver’s seat trying to relax. The Halo Tech building loomed ahead reaching toward the sky at eighty stories. Somehow, he had expected to feel the girl’s presence, but nothing yet. If nothing else, he knew Dr. Young worked here and that would lead him to the girl.

The traffic light turned red as he approached the intersection. Dusk would not come for another hour. He stopped at the intersection and waited. Only a mile to go. Then he would be at Halo Technologies.

Samuel heard a squeal as a black BMW, like the one he was driving, charged around and stopped in front of him. Another squeal came from behind. He watched through the white tire smoke as a black van lurched sideways in the street. The side door flew open, revealing armed gunmen. He turned back to find the windows down on the BMW and a gun barrel aimed in his direction. Two men got out on the other side, rounding the car with machine guns.

They all opened fire at once, spraying the car with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Samuel was trapped. He ducked below the dash, the windows exploding all around him. Glass cut into his skin. At least two bullets hit him in the leg and upper arm, near his left shoulder.

Samuel screamed in anger and pain. With his mind, he blew the pocked roof right off the car and shot his body out of the deathtrap as though from a cannon. The startled gunmen backed off for a moment, the roof flipping away from the car into the street. They hadn’t realized Samuel was out of the car.

He came down softly in the middle of the intersection behind their BMW. One of the gunmen saw him and cried out to the others. “There he is!”

Samuel squeezed with his mind, and the black BMW, with three men still inside, imploded like an old aluminum can crushed in hand. The gunmen stared in disbelief, until the gas tank erupted. The two men standing near the car burst into flame before they could run.

One of the men fell, burning in the street while the other screamed, firing his gun into the ground until, he too, fell over dead. The others were too dumbfounded to know what to do. Samuel didn’t wait for them to figure it out.

He lashed out with his mind, and the men flew back into the side of the van. The windows burst out, and the side caved in with the impact. The driver mashed the accelerator, trying to peel away, but Samuel held the vehicle—tires squealing like a pig. He flipped the black van over onto the gunmen. Exhausted, Samuel collapsed in the middle of the street.

His wounds bled through his clothes in several places. Commuters had stopped by now and stood far off, wondering what to do for the situation. Police sirens already screamed from some distance away. He had to get out of here.

Samuel sat up, examining his wounds. One bullet had gone into his left thigh, the other into his left bicep and out again. There was nothing he could do for the arm. He concentrated on the bullet in his leg, willing it to surface. The pain grew unbearable. Samuel did his best to separate his mind from it, concentrating.

The bullet surfaced at the skin and fell out as he exhaled the breath he’d been holding. It brought some relief, but not much. Fresh blood pooled to the surface and ran down his leg. The sirens grew closer. He had to leave.

Samuel managed to stand again, hobbling down the street toward Halo Tech. His leg burned and ached. So did the arm. He had been surprised by some of Silas Chang’s thugs—ironic that Silas had already been dead for hours when his revenge came calling. Samuel tried to concentrate on walking and slowing the blood flow to his wounds.

Behind him, bystanders cried out to one another, trying to do something for the men lying under the van, but it was too late for them. No one seemed willing to approach Samuel, though he obviously needed medical attention. In his mind, Samuel dared them to say anything. He trudged on. Halo Tech waited.

11 RESURRECTED

Dusk approached, when Jay entered the secure elevator on his way back down to the underground cryo vault facility. Lily had called already to say that she had fed Margot and sat her in front of one of her favorite movies at the safe house—actually Jay’s second home purposely left unregistered to his name. It comforted him to know his little girl was safe.

The elevator deposited him down at the cryo vault. Dr. Mathers didn’t meet him this time, so Jay passed through the code doors alone. At the last, he stopped and took a deep breath. He had not seen Jonathan awake in thirty years.

While Jonathan had remained a young man, Jay had entered middle age. Jonathan had been his mentor when Jay was fifteen. Now the tables had truly turned. Jay wondered if Jonathan would even recognize him.

He punched in the last code and walked through the doorway into the cryo vault. At the far end of the vault, he spotted Dr. Mathers. He stood looking at someone out of Jay’s view whose legs were dangling over the edge of an exam table, wearing dark blue, scrub pants. Dr. Mathers looked at Jay as he walked toward them.

When Mathers stepped back away from the exam table, Jonathan slid down to the floor on his bare feet. He wore the matching scrub top. His head held only a light stubble since he had been told to shave it for cryo preservation. Jonathan looked noticeably rattled when he laid eyes on Jay.

They walked toward one another. Jonathan still looked so young. Jay couldn’t believe how old he had become while Jonathan remained the same. They came within a few feet of one another. Jonathan looked him up and down. “Jay, is it really you?”

Jay offered his hand. “I know, Jonathan. I’ve gotten old while you’ve been sleeping.”

Jonathan bypassed the handshake, grabbing Jay up in a bear hug. Jay noticed how strong he still was after all this time. “Whoa, Jonathan, gentle, gentle…don’t forget about your strength,” Jay said.

“Oh yeah, sorry, Jay.” Jonathan set his feet back on the ground and let him go. “I had forgotten.”

“How do you feel?”

Jonathan rubbed the back of his neck. “Considering how long I’ve been down, I’d say, great. Dr. Mathers told me I’ve been asleep for almost thirty years.”

“That’s right.”

“Does that mean you’ve found a cure for the mutagen?” Jonathan asked.

Jay looked downcast. “I’m sorry, Jonathan, but I’ve been trying ever since I completed medical school. I’ve had the best minds working on it, but we’ve not been able to reverse the effects.”

•

Samuel stood in the street before the Halo Tech building rising into the evening sky. “Come out, come out, wherever you are, Dr. Young!” He squeezed his eyes shut, and a shockwave smashed into the face of the building. Hundreds of panes of shatterproof glass fractured and fell from their frames. Glass showered the pavement before him.

Cars had stopped. Pedestrians stood watching the incredible display from a safe distance. Police sirens closed on the area. The sky lanes hummed overhead, shunting evening traffic.

Police vehicles departed the sky lanes, descending on the square before Halo Tech. Samuel waited for them to land. Glass continued to rain down from the front façade.

Police, in SWAT uniforms, filed out of carriers, flooding the plaza around Samuel. He stood his ground watching the building. “Did you call the police to save you, Dr. Young?” He hit the building with another shockwave. More glass cascaded onto the pavement as the superstructure shuddered.

Weapons leveled on Samuel. “Freeze, Stokes! You’re surrounded!”

Samuel turned to look at the one who had spoken to him. Over fifty armed police officers stood with their weapons trained on him. Five police carriers sat behind them in a semicircle spread over the plaza. “Give yourself up peacefully, Stokes. We don’t want to be forced to hurt you, kid.”

Samuel noticed that the weapons were unusual. He had seen them before—tranquilizers. He laughed to himself, closed his eyes, and raised his hands in the air. When he did, all five police carriers exploded, launching plumes of fire into the air.

The SWAT officers dropped to the pavement, caught unaware. Flaming fragments of their vehicles cascaded down around them. The officers tried to regroup as pedestrians screamed and sought cover.

Three decorative fountains sprayed water into the air within the plaza. Samuel took control. The molecules aligned to his will. The water from all three fountains converged into living streams, flowing out toward the policemen. When the police stood up again, a watery serpent smashed them back to the ground.

Samuel focused his attention on the building again as the water flowed through the air among the policemen, keeping them at bay. “You’re going to have to come out here and face me, Dr. Young. Don’t make me come after you!” Samuel threatened.

Another shockwave smashed into the building. The police remained helpless. Some had already run from the firing line. Others lay unconscious on the pavement. In the distance, Samuel heard the approach of more sirens on their way to the scene.

•

A warning resounded throughout the Halo Technology Building. The power faded again within the cryo vault. Jonathan watched as even the emergency lighting blinked off before coming slowly back online. “What’s causing that, Jay? Trenton hasn’t escaped has he?” Jonathan asked.

“No, his remains are still preserved in a high security cryogenic chamber near the entrance to this vault.” Jay crossed to one of the computer terminals. “What’s happening now may be just as bad or worse.”

Dr. Mathers crossed the room to some of his monitors, checking readings on his experiments and the cryo vaults. “He’s not only disrupting the main power, but the emergency power grid as well. Jay we can’t have that…not with these cryo vaults depending on emergency power.”

Jonathan walked up behind Jay, where he had an exterior camera feed displayed. On the screen, a young man stood in the middle of the Halo Tech Plaza. Policemen had him surrounded, or at least it appeared so at first. A living tube of water, coming from the decorative fountains, chased the policemen away who tried to approach the boy.

Jay turned on the exterior microphone feed, and the boy’s voice spoke to them within the cryo vault. “—going to have to come out here and face me, Dr. Young. Don’t make me come after you!” The building shuddered again, and the lights went dark.

Jonathan, Jay, and Dr. Mathers waited a moment for the emergency power to kick on. It never did. Mathers stumbled around his desk. “No…not the emergency power, too!”

Jay turned to Jonathan in the dark. “We’re going to have to get out of here the hard way.” He opened a drawer and removed several flashlights. Jay lit one and handed Jonathan one. “Tim?”

Dr. Mathers found them and took the last flashlight. Jay looked at Jonathan. “That boy out there is Samuel Stokes. He’s a telekinetic, the product of Dr. Andre Sarkov’s research.”

“You mean he can move things with his mind?” Jonathan asked.

Mathers interrupted. “He is destroying buildings with his mind, and now the emergency power grid is offline.” Mather’s eyes lit up. He ran down the vault in a frenzy.

Jonathan and Jay walked after him. “What does Stokes want with you, Jay?”

“I’m not quite sure. It’s complicated, but the FBI believed he might come after me, now that he’s destroyed the research facility where he was born.”

“He literally destroyed the whole building?” Jonathan asked.

“Samuel destroyed a skyscraper as big as the one we’re in and used it to flatten the Psy-Corp complex.” Jay made a motion with his arm like a tree falling over. “I had to wake you out of cryo because the FBI had me clear everyone out of Halo Tech. I couldn’t just leave you behind. It would have taken too long to find a place to safely move you while you were under.”

Jonathan smiled, placing his hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’d rather be walking on my own two feet anyway. I can’t believe all that I’ve missed.” Jonathan started to ask a question, but stopped himself.

“Cancer. But he didn’t suffer. You know how Joseph was. He didn’t go to the doctor much, so when they found the tumor, it had already metastasized. He went to be with the Lord about a month later, very peacefully.”

“Well, at least he’s with the Lord.” Jonathan sighed. “That gives me comfort. I just don’t understand why the Lord has left me here.”

“Oh no!” Dr. Mathers stepped away from the special cryo vault. He looked up at the status light above the vault door. The light would remain green as long as the temperature parameters were maintained for cryo stasis. The light now blinked an angry red.

Jay shined his light on Mathers as he backed away from the vault door. “What’s happening, Tim?” His light followed Dr. Mathers’ gaze up the wall to the blinking red light, then down again to the door.

Dr. Mathers looked back at Jay. “The cryo chamber is failing.” He walked toward the door to the small square window positioned at head height. The lighting within had failed. The capacitor only held enough power to keep the warning light blinking.

Jay and Jonathan walked up the metal steps behind Dr. Mathers. “What’s in there, Jay?”

Jay turned to him with his light. “Trenton.”

Dr. Mathers fidgeted with a manual gauge situated below the blank digital readout. He looked inside the door window and shined his light within. The building shuddered again under the force of the angry eighteen-year-old outside. “I’m not getting a good reading from the internal thermometer.”

Jay shined his light on Dr. Mathers and the window. “What’s it reading, Tim?”

Black pitch smashed into the window glass where Dr. Mathers peeked through. He stumbled back, landing against the metal hand railing. Jay and Jonathan gasped when they saw the black liquid sliding along the cracked window. “He’s loose!”

Dr. Mathers tried to stand. Jonathan leaped up to the landing to help him. “Come on, Doc, let’s get outta here!”

Mathers stood and tried to run with Jonathan. His foot remained fixed. He shined his flashlight down to his ankle and found an oozing black tentacle fastened to him. “Help!” Jonathan reached for him, but the tentacle tore Mathers back.

Mathers slammed into the cryo vault door. His flashlight spun off into the dark chamber. Jay shined his light on Mathers, as Jonathan ran to help him. “Be careful, Jonathan!”

The black pitch against the window burst through and wrapped around Mathers’ face. The tentacle snapped sideways, breaking Dr. Mathers’ neck. His body went limp, and the tentacles released him. One of them reached for Jonathan. He skidded to a halt on the landing, ducking as the gelatinous, black appendage swiped at his head and missed. Jonathan fell back, scooting away as the other tentacle lunged for his leg.

Jay grabbed Jonathan’s arm and pulled, trying to get him to safety. Jonathan stood, shining his light on the cryo vault door again. Thick liquid, like tar, crawled over the top of the door, and down toward the floor where more of the ooze seeped out from under the door. “We’ve got to get out of here, Jonathan!” Jay pulled him away from the horrible scene.

They ran, swinging their flashlights, down the corridor toward the elevator. Jonathan’s bare feet slapped against the cold tile floor. “What level are we on?”

“The lowest. We’re about one hundred feet below ground,” Jay said.

They reached the elevator doors. “It’s no good. The power is off. Do you have some other way out?” Jonathan asked.

“The ladder tube!” Jay ran back about twenty feet, searching the wall with his light until he found the door. He opened it as Jonathan caught up to him. “This ladder will take us all the way to the street level.”

The building shuddered again. The lights flicked on for just a moment. Jonathan looked back toward the lab in time to see Dr. Mathers’ lifeless body flung past the corridor opening. A shiny black figure appeared just before the lights went out again. “Get moving, Jay! Here he comes!”

12 UNLEASHED

Jonathan followed Jay, climbing the metal ladder toward the street. “Come on, we’ve got to move!”

“You’ve been asleep for thirty years, and I’m not a kid anymore!” Jay said, breathlessly.

“You won’t be anything, if you don’t move it. I saw Trenton reform back there.” Jonathan stayed right on Jay’s heels. Laughter ascended to them. Jonathan looked down to find Trenton standing at the bottom, now fifty feet below them.

He appeared very much the same as he had before the great metamorphosis which had changed him, forever, into the monster, Nemesis. “How long has it been, and my little cousin is still alive and kicking? You see, Jonathan? I made you immortal after all.”

Jonathan didn’t reply. The laughter grew louder, and he heard the slap of powerful appendages on metal. The ladder vibrated as the creature started climbing the rungs.

Jonathan looked down. Trenton had returned to his Nemesis form. A seething body of black pitch launched multiple tentacles, grasping the ladder rungs, propelling itself upward. Nemesis ascended faster than Jonathan or Jay could keep pace with. “I’m coming for you, Jonathan,” Nemesis said.

The building shook again. This time they felt the shockwave with more force. Jay lost his grip on the ladder and fell. Jonathan blocked his descent, then helped him get a hold again. Jay’s flashlight skittered past Jonathan and ricocheted from the ladder rungs to the wall, then stopped twenty feet below them. The beam moved to shine up the tunnel at them. “I see you.”

Jonathan pushed Jay forward. “Keep moving!” Jay surged forward with renewed vigor, taking two and three rungs at a time. Jonathan followed, his flashlight banging the rungs as he climbed.

“Gotcha!” A black tendril snagged Jonathan by the ankle and pulled. Jonathan held tight to the rung he was on. Nemesis grabbed the other leg at the knee. Another tentacle wrapped around his right bicep and pulled his hand away from the ladder. Jonathan’s flashlight fell away and dropped down the tunnel, banging off the wall several times before smashing at the bottom. The tunnel went completely black.

Jay stopped climbing. “Jonathan, are you okay?”

“Keep climbing!”

Another shockwave hit the building. The lights in the ladder tube came on. Jonathan saw the living tar creeping over him. “Hello, Johnny, did you miss me?” Nemesis gurgled.

Jay screamed above him. “Jonathan!”

“Keep going! Don’t worry about me!” Jonathan tried to smash Nemesis into the wall with his back, but it had no affect on the creature. With the lights still on, Jonathan spotted the power conduit running up the wall behind the ladder. He grabbed the metal pipe and yanked it out of its housing on the wall. The joint nearest him broke apart, leaving insulated wiring hanging loose.

Nemesis wrapped around his arm, fighting him. Jonathan let go of the ladder and grabbed the cables in both hands. He tore them apart with his great strength, sending a shower of sparks bouncing around the ladder tube. Jonathan jammed the bare cable straight into Nemesis’ gooey body.

Electricity surged through Nemesis and Jonathan. He screamed as pain ignited every nerve in his body. Nemesis recoiled from his grip on Jonathan. The smoking tar body fell away, tumbling down the shaft toward the cryo vault below.

Jonathan barely perceived his freedom from the creature. The voltage coursing through him had stopped, but the tetanus on his muscles remained. He tried to open his eyes again. Consciousness seemed to fade.

“Wake up!”

Jonathan responded. He opened his eyes, looking toward the voice. Jay stood on the ladder next to him, trying to get a grip on his clothing. Jonathan looked up. His hand still held a death grip on the dead end of the power cable coming out of the ruined conduit pipe.

Jonathan smiled weakly. “I thought I told you to keep moving.”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet? I’m older than you now, so respect your elders and get over here on this ladder. We’ve still got to get to the surface before Trenton comes back.”

Jonathan grabbed Jay’s hand and got back onto the ladder rungs with him. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine after my head clears.”

“Well, clear it on the way. Let’s move.” Jay scrambled up the ladder again. Jonathan followed, glancing down as he went. Nemesis had not started back up…yet.

•

Jonathan and Jay reached the top of the ladder tube. Jonathan kicked the exit door so hard it tore completely off its hinges, falling into the lobby. They ran toward the front of the building through a sea of broken glass. Many of the windows had shattered along with the glass doors.

Jay skidded to a halt when he remembered where they were running. “Wait, Stokes is out there.” He grabbed Jonathan’s arm to stop him. They both looked back toward the ladder tube as the metallic pitter-patter of climbing echoed out to them.

Jonathan looked at Jay. “We had better figure out the lesser of two evils, really fast.”

Nemesis shot out of the tube like a torpedo, rebounded off the ceiling, and hit the floor reforming into a man. He rose, assuming Trenton’s shape again. “Nowhere to run, Jonathan?”

Thirty yards stood between them and Nemesis. Jonathan looked out toward the plaza. “We don’t exactly know what the kid wants, but we definitely know what that thing wants. I vote we run out there.”

“Are you kidding? You have no idea what Stokes can do.”

Jonathan looked back to Nemesis. The creature broke into a run for them. “No, but I know what he can do.” He turned and started for the door. Jay reluctantly followed. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I don’t, but let’s see what happens when they face each other.”

13 SHOWDOWN

Samuel relinquished the water spout under his control. The police had suffered enough. The conscious ones had retreated, no doubt trying to figure out how to best capture him. Reinforcements had arrived, but not approached the plaza just yet.

Samuel wondered why people had not run from the building, when two men crashed through the ruined front façade. He recognized one of them as Dr. Jay Young, the man who now owned Psy-Corp.

Samuel lifted the two men with his mind. They left the pavement, squirming for control, tumbling through the air toward him. They stopped, hovering before Samuel. He smiled. “I don’t recognize your friend, Dr. Young.”

Just then, Nemesis erupted from the building, spraying glass out before him. Samuel watched the pitch black form of a man run straight for him. “What is that, Dr. Young, some weapon you’ve sent to kill me?”

Jay tumbled in zero gravity. “Nothing I’ve made.”

Jonathan interrupted. “Nothing you can stop, Stokes!”

Samuel laughed, tossing Jonathan and Jay aside. They hit the pavement, got up, and circled behind Samuel. Nemesis charged like an enraged bull. Samuel knocked him back with a telekinetic blast. Nemesis tumbled backwards, deformed, then reformed standing and stopped. “Stand aside, boy!”

Nemesis charged. Samuel blasted the creature telekinetically. Nemesis exploded, and balls of black pitch went everywhere. Jonathan and Jay watched while they crept toward the police line.

The black balls, each approximately the size of a tennis ball, bounced when they hit the ground. Samuel stood watching, amused. “So much for the weird god.” He turned around in order to locate Jay. “Don’t go anywhere just yet, Dr. Young.”

One of the balls of pitch struck Samuel, sticking to his chest. He looked down at it, then noticed more coming his way. A hundred balls of tar all bounced at him in unison. He tried to peel the one from his chest. The stuck ball exploded toward his face, into his nostrils, and mouth.

Samuel expelled the black ooze with telekinesis, just as the other tar balls reached him. He shielded himself at the last moment. The black bouncing balls hit an invisible barrier and were repelled. They gathered again, just beyond the barrier, and formed a man again.

Samuel nearly fell over, gasping for air. Blood poured from his nose and mouth. One ball from Nemesis’ body, still within his mental barrier, rose from the ground, forming a miniature of Nemesis. It pointed at him, laughing maniacally, then ran back to the main body and reformed with it.

Nemesis wasted no time. He scattered across the ground in the form of hundreds of tiny snake-like creatures, all seeking Samuel Stokes. They slithered at frightening speed, surrounding Samuel. He tried to repel them, but as some were blasted away others moved in.

Samuel leaped into the air, suspending his body twenty feet up. Nemesis reformed, lashing out with a long tentacle, seizing Samuel’s leg. Nemesis pulled himself taut, then released and sprang like a rubber band toward Samuel, just as he blasted the tentacle off of his ankle.

Samuel noticed the black blob hurtling toward him. He tried to repel it. Nemesis deformed into tiny droplets like black spray paint flying through the air. Samuel launched away, so that Nemesis lost momentum and fell short.

Samuel remained in the air while Nemesis reformed on the ground. Jonathan, Jay, and the police could only watch the battle unfold. Samuel concentrated on the cement tiles making up the plaza floor. He raised a dozen tiles, hurling them at Nemesis, trying to take the offensive.

Nemesis spun around like a tornado, whipping out multiple tentacles. Each tentacle seized cement tiles from the air, spun them round, and flung them back into the air toward Samuel.

Samuel blasted the tiles from the air. They burst into flame and shattered. Fiery fragments blew back toward Nemesis. Samuel noticed the fragments scorch the creature. Nemesis cried out, dodging away from the flame.

Samuel smiled, hovering above the ground. Fire was a trickier affair for him to produce mentally. It required fuel, oxygen, and heat. He had learned to generate the heat by generating friction among the elements in the air—a quick application that worked. The oxygen was everywhere, but the fuel was more difficult.

Nemesis began to mount another attack. Samuel noticed the police convoy parked around them. One of the fuel cells within would do nicely. Nemesis sprang toward him. Samuel caught him with his mind, flinging him toward one of the Police transports. Jonathan, Jay, and the Police dodged away from the vehicle, realizing what was coming toward them.

Nemesis smashed through the side of the van. Immediately, Samuel charged up the atmosphere where the fuel cell was located inside the chassis. The Police transport exploded. Blue flame engulfed it with Nemesis inside.

The transport rocked and fell over as Nemesis tried to escape its hellish confines. Nemesis shot out the side, screeching horribly, attempting to extinguish the flames burning his body. Nemesis rolled over and over again on the ground in a ball, until the flames had gone out.

Samuel seized the creature again, flinging him toward the inferno. Nemesis tore away a section of the pavement trying to resist. Instead, he blew himself apart into fragments again. Samuel tried to contain him, but the fragments scattered and melted down through sewer grates in the street.

Samuel waited, but nothing more happened. The creature had apparently fled. He flew over the plaza, coming to rest on the street before the police transports. There he spotted Jonathan and Jay among the officers.

Blood stained Samuel’s face and clothes. He didn’t smile. The game had not been fun. “There you are,” he said.

Samuel levitated several of the officers off of the ground. “Dr. Young, you and your friend are coming with me. Get into one of the police transports now, or I’ll kill these policemen. Your choice.”

Jonathan and Jay looked at one another. “Jonathan, I don’t think we have much choice.”

Jonathan nodded and walked to the closest transport. “Fine. We’re not going to have their blood on our hands, Stokes.”

Jay followed Jonathan. Samuel followed them into the transport, and the door closed behind them. The officers fell to the street, confused.

Samuel looked at Jay. “Fine, Dr. Young, you drive. We’ll talk on the way. I’m sure you know where we need to go better than anyone, anyway.”

Jay appeared confused, but he switched places with Jonathan. “Where are we going?”

Samuel smiled as Jonathan sat down across from him. “Let’s start heading west and then we’ll see.”

The police carrier van started and pulled away from the convoy parked inside Halo Tech Plaza. Beneath the transport, a stray black tentacle recoiled into the undercarriage.

14 PRESSING ADVANTAGE

Samuel sat opposite Jonathan on the bench attached to the side wall of the police van. He examined Jonathan. Jay sat in the driver’s seat, wondering where in the world Stokes wanted to go and for what purpose. “Take the sky lane, Dr. Young.”

Jay punched in a sky lane request. The dashboard display indicated all clear for a merger with sky lane twelve. “Would you mind telling me where in the world we’re headed?” Jay asked.

Samuel never took his eyes off Jonathan, even when speaking to Jay. “I want the girl, Dr. Young.”

Jay’s heart sank in his chest. Surely he didn’t know about Margot. He and her parents had been so careful to keep her existence a secret from the Halo Project and the other children involved. He decided to try a bluff. “I’m not taking you out cruising for girls, Samuel.”

Samuel stifled a laugh. “Amusing, Dr. Young, but futile. I know all about Margot. You’re going to take me to her.”

Jay lost control of his temper. “If you think I’m turning over my daughter to a psychopath, then your crazier than I thought. Do whatever you want with me, but you’re not going anywhere near Margot. I’ll never let you hurt her.”

“Hurt her?” Samuel seemed genuinely baffled. “I’m going to protect her from people like you.”

“People like me?” Jay couldn’t contain himself. “I’m her father.”

“You are not her real father.” The entire police van shook with Samuel’s indignation. “Her parents died. They were a part of the Halo Project, Dr. Young. You may have taken the girl under your wing, but she is not yours. She’s not even like you…she is one of my kind.”

Jay’s squeezed the steering wheel so tight his fingers went numb with rage. “One of your kind?”

“Yes, Doctor…the same kind that you and Sarkov butchered once we could serve no other purpose for you.”

The police van rose into the air, merging with sky lane twelve. Jay slapped the autopilot button and swiveled in his seat. He pointed at his chest indignantly. “I never killed anyone, Samuel.”

“No? Well the company you run certainly did, Dr. Young. My brothers and sisters in the program were all slaughtered by your people before their eighteenth birthday.”

Jay almost stood up out of his seat. “I purchased Psy-Corp in hopes of putting an end to Sarkov’s brand of so-called research, Samuel. I hoped to protect you children from further harm…that’s all.” Jay tried to calm down. “When the others began to have psychotic breaks, they were put down.”

“Don’t you mean killed, Doctor?” Samuels face burned bright red.

“They had grown too dangerous. We couldn’t risk them escaping and killing more people. Sarkov may have caused the problem, but he had no choice once the rest started harming others with their power. Look at what you’ve done since you got loose.”

Now Samuel stood. His thoughts slammed Jay back into his seat. “Vengeance for what was done to my siblings! Vengeance for what you and Sarkov were attempting to carry out on me, when I was taken from you!”

Jay found that he couldn’t even speak. A weight had descended upon him, forbidding him from carrying the argument any further. Guilt held him fast and shut his mouth, not Samuel’s power. The boy had it right. Jay had known that the children were being killed, but in his mind there simply had been no choice.

Finally, he spoke up again as Samuel calmed a little and took his seat. “What were we supposed to do, Samuel? How do you bargain with a psychotic superhuman? How do you restrain someone like you? Do you just let them run amok and kill people at will? Do you leave an unsuspecting city in jeopardy?”

Samuel didn’t answer, although he seemed to be looking for an intelligent answer. “Sarkov never should have been allowed to bring us into the world like this in the first place. Just because he did, didn’t give you the right to exterminate us at your leisure.”

Jay nodded. “That’s why I bought him out, Samuel. Only, the problem was already bigger than I knew. The others were already losing control, some of them dying just from the condition. Again, I ask you, what could we do?”

Samuel gave Jay a hard look. “Maybe you should have tried to look for a way to help us, instead of your quick fix death sentence.”

Jay didn’t answer. Jonathan did. “Samuel, things are what they are now, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow this course. You can choose to do something else…we all can.”

“I’ve just come out of cryogenic sleep.” Jonathan looked at Jay. “I was placed in that state thirty years ago because of a genetic mutagen I was exposed to. The same mutagen that created the creature you were fighting with.”

He had Samuel’s full attention. “What was that thing?”

Jonathan looked at Jay, then Samuel. “He calls himself Nemesis now, but he’s actually Dr. Trenton Hallowed. He created the mutagen, hoping to cause man to evolve into something more noble, more powerful. Instead, the drug turned him into a vicious killer. I was exposed to the mutagen in an accident and received enhanced strength and healing from it, but also a death sentence. My own hyper-metabolism is killing me.”

Samuel nodded. He seemed to be more eager to listen to Jonathan now. “But you’re not like that creature at all.”

“No. Trenton took the process much farther with himself. I don’t even know if there’s any of the man I grew up with in him anymore. The point is this, Samuel. I can relate to how you’re feeling. My life has been taken away from me, but I’m not going to be bitter. I’m not going to take it out on everyone else. I have a choice, and so do you.”

Samuel stared at him for a long moment. “That’s a great attitude, Jonathan, and you’re right, I do have a choice. I’m going to protect those like myself, and you two are going to take me to the girl now.”

Jay started to rise from his seat again. “Now, wait a minute—”

Samuel slammed Jonathan to the wall of the van with his mind, pressing upon him. Jay stopped. “What are you doing?”

Samuel looked at Jay. “Since you owe your good fortune to Jonathan here, I suppose it wouldn’t be too much to ask that you end his suffering by doing as I’ve told you…take me to the girl.” Samuel pressed harder on Jonathan causing his nerves to transmit wave after wave of pain impulses to his brain. Jonathan screamed in uncontrolled agony.

“Stop it, you’re killing him!” Jay pleaded.

“No, not yet, Doctor…not for a long time, unless you do as I’ve said.” Samuel pressed again. Jonathan writhed against the van wall, blinding pain coursing through his entire body.

Jay watched until he couldn’t stand it any longer. “All right, just stop torturing him!”

The pain subsided, though Samuel still held Jonathan fast to the wall. “Then sit down, and start driving, Doctor.”

Jay looked at Jonathan once more, then complied. He sat down and switched off the auto-pilot. Control returned to him. Jay accessed another sky lane. His mind worked frantically for a solution. Somehow, he had to keep Samuel away from Margot and still save Jonathan’s life.

The police van received an access granted ping, and the sky-lane system computer pulled the transport safely from one lane to another. Jay looked back at Samuel. The boy glared at him. Jay seconded Samuel’s own thought—wishing this boy had never been born.

15 TABLES TURN

Ten minutes later, the sky lane deposited the police transport in front of the Willow Creek subdivision. Jay cruised through a neighborhood of fine homes, each sporting several acres of finely manicured lawn. On a few, robotic lawn maintenance systems hummed through their labor without care.

At the far end of the main road, stood a home distinguishably larger than the others. Jay drove the police van up the cobblestone driveway terminating at a six car garage bay. He stopped and shut down the hybrid electric engine. Samuel peeked through the windshield toward the house. “Nice place, Doc. Nice to see how well murder pays off.”

Jay started to protest, but took another look at Jonathan slumped on the bench, exhausted, and thought better of it. He might be made to pay for any remarks Jay made. Instead, he turned in his seat. “Now what? Am I just supposed to go in and bring her out to you?”

Samuel stood up with a smile on his face and started to speak. The police van lurched, then flew up under their feet. All three men tumbled helplessly inside the metal cabin, banging off the walls, ceiling, and floor as the vehicle flipped across the driveway.

•

Nemesis stood, taking human form again as the police van tumbled several times. He laughed as the van caved in with each turn across the cobblestone drive. Nemesis turned back toward the large house. Time to get the girl they had been discussing inside the van. A plan was brewing on how he might make use of her and her untapped power.

Nemesis remained long enough to see if anyone would climb out of the van. No one did, but he knew, at least, Jonathan would. Made of the same mutagenic stuff as himself, he would not die so easily.

Nemesis turned and ran toward the house. He leaped over the porch steps and crashed through the front door, sending splintered wood flying in all directions. Almost immediately, a Taser weapon fired a scatter of pulsing prongs into his body. Though they possessed no trailing wires, the effect was the same. Electrical current surged through his body, nullifying the molecular bond of his cells. He burst apart, literally, at the seams.

To Jay’s assistant, Lily, he had appeared to disintegrate before her eyes. She stood near the ornate circular staircase with the Taser in hand, waiting to see if it was really going to end as easy as that. She peered around the room, looking for any trace of the man who’d crashed through the door—the same she had just seen flip the police van from her window—only then, he had appeared as a black gelatinous creature.

Nemesis gathered his molecular mass. He had not expected the current to have such an effect on him. He misted through the room and reformed behind the woman in his pitch black, humanoid form. She turned on him, with the gun in hand, firing point blank. He dodged aside quick.

Nemesis smashed a black tentacle across her chest, sending her hurtling into the foyer. Lily collided with a decorative glass case. Shattered glass rained upon her as she skidded to a halt near the front door. Blood oozed to the surface of her skin from glass cuts all over her body, but she remained unconscious and still.

Time to find the girl.

Nemesis began his search in the few large rooms on the first floor—nothing. The girl would likely be upstairs, hiding in a closet or under a bed. He sprinted up the circular stair case to the landing and took on a normal human appearance. No use making this more traumatic than necessary. If the girl did have latent power, like Stokes had said, then she would certainly be more inclined to use them upon a pitch black monstrosity than a normal looking man.

He advanced through different rooms on the second floor, then spotted a closet at the far end which had been cracked open. It was shut. Nemesis smiled as he walked toward the closet door in the dimly lit hallway. The doorknob rotated, and things in the closet shuffled around. “Hiding won’t do you any good, little girl.” He grabbed the doorknob, turned, and pulled it open. “Gotcha!”

The closet was empty.

Someone darted behind him toward the stairs—the girl. She had manipulated the closet with her mind. He realized she must have some understanding of her mental power already.

Nemesis raced after her. As he reached the top of the circular staircase, he saw Margot already leaving the bottom step. He heard the sound of sirens approaching outside. More police. For his plan to work, he had to get the girl while she was away from the others.

Nemesis leaped over the banister, opened pouches under his arms like a flying squirrel, then sailed down right on top of her. She screamed as he enveloped her in his black, gelatinous form. He muffled her scream, then went to work siphoning a part of himself away to infiltrate the girl’s body. He had to reach her brain if he ever hoped to join with her and control the power she wielded.

•

Jonathan had only begun to extricate himself from the mess in the van, when he heard sirens blaring all around. Jay sat up beside him, holding his head. “Man that hurts!”

“Are you bleeding?” Jonathan asked.

“I don’t think so. What happened?” Jonathan looked on the floor of the van where Samuel lay unconscious, then he looked out the windshield. Police Mechs were approaching Jay’s house fast, sirens screaming, and blue lights flashing. “Stokes couldn’t have done it, and the police just got here. My gut tells me Trenton has resurfaced.”

Jay sat there listening. “Where is he then? Why hasn’t he finished us off?”

They looked at each other simultaneously. “Margot?”

Jonathan burst out of the back of the overturned police van, smashing the double doors out of his way. Jay followed hot on his trail. “Jonathan, don’t let him hurt her!”

Jonathan needed no telling. Any daughter of Jay’s might as well have been his own. He sped up to the house, leaving Jay in his wake. “Stay back, Jay! Trenton will only kill you, too!”

“Halt!” A Police Mech hovered over the driveway, landing with a hydraulic crash that cracked the paving stones. Jay did as he was told. The .50 caliber machine gun turret, aimed at him, made sure of that.

“That thing has got my daughter!” Jay yelled.

The officer fastened inside the mech robot looked toward the house. The kicked in door and splintered door jam were clearly in view. Five more Police Mechs joined the first on the lawn. More cars joined the heavy artillery, and officers began to spill out onto Jay’s property with their weapons drawn. Agent Wong got out of a police car and ran up to Jay, wanting to know the situation.

Jay shook his hand, actually relieved to see the man. “We believe the Nemesis creature that broke out of Halo Tech’s cryo containment unit has my daughter and executive assistant held captive inside. My friend, Jonathan, has gone inside already.”

Wong looked puzzled, searching the property with his eyes. “What about Stokes? Wasn’t he in the van with you?”

At that moment, it occurred to Jay exactly why the police were here. They had followed a tracer on the van—it was their equipment after all. Wong hadn’t shown up with the cavalry for any other reason than he expected to get a hold on Samuel Stokes. “What happened to Stokes?” Wong asked again.

Jay pointed to the wrecked police van. “He’s still in there, unconscious.”

Agent Wong signaled to the Police Mech standing over them and spoke into his transmitter-receiver. “The van! Cover the van. Stokes is unconscious inside.”

The manned robot moved away, focusing its machine gun on the flipped vehicle laying in Jay’s yard. The other police mechs did the same, while their fellow officers moved in to investigate the open rear doors.

At that moment, a rush of wind flushed out of the police van. The approaching officers ducked for cover in the grass. The van cracked like an eggshell and peeled away as Samuel Stokes levitated into the air. The mech robots locked their machine guns on the boy, as he surveyed the scene around him.

16 MARGOT

Jonathan ran into Nemesis in the living room. The creature was huddled in a mound on the floor. Jonathan charged toward it through the front door. It screeched and rose up with a pitch black face and devilish, black pools for eyes.

Jonathan skidded to a halt on the hardwood floor as the little girl, Margot, was revealed in the creature’s grasp, nearly covered in its gelatinous mass. “Let her go, Trenton!”

Nemesis rose up, slinging the little girl across the living room onto a sofa near a large picture window overlooking the yard. Jonathan tried to grab her, but the creature blocked the way. The sirens outside had ceased. Now Jonathan heard loud commands given by police officers.

Nemesis whipped a black tentacle at Jonathan. He flipped over it, using his momentum to slam a kick home. The creature seemed solid enough. Jonathan realized he might have made a mistake.

The creature hammered him with four arms like some enraged Hindu god. Jonathan tried to repel the blows, but they were coming too fast to keep up. He dodged away, hoping to get to the girl.

Jonathan noticed that Margot was awake. Nearby, he spotted the body of a woman who must have been watching Jay’s daughter in the house. She appeared to be breathing, but had sustained several nasty gashes from the broken glass surrounding her on the floor.

“Margot, I’m a friend of your father, here to help. Try to get outside to the police!”

The girl didn’t respond to him, though she looked his way. Jonathan supposed she must be too frightened to act. He grabbed a pole lamp standing in the corner near the stairs, whipping it up over his head as Nemesis closed in. “I don’t know what you’re hoping to accomplish with all this, Trenton, but I’m not going to allow you to harm anyone anymore.” He had hoped this bravado might get Trenton talking again. At least, he might learn a little of Trenton’s plans. He had always loved hearing himself speak, especially when it came to his own brilliance.

But Trenton didn’t answer him. He only circled, seeming more animal now than psychotic. Maybe he’s degenerated in this form. Jonathan wasn’t sure what to think. Science had always been Jay’s department.

The creature lunged, and Jonathan smashed it across the head. He used the opportunity to dodge past it and get into the living room where Margot still lay on the sofa, her eyes watching the scene. As Jonathan approached, she held out her hands to him. He snatched her up from the sofa, pulling her in tight to protect her with his body as much as possible. Another leap took them both through the large picture window and out onto the lawn.

When Jonathan picked Margot up from the cool grass, he stood looking down the muzzle of a rotating machine gun cannon. The Police Mech attached to it looked even more formidable. The officer inside looked them over, saw the girl, then raised the cannon safely away.

Nemesis flew through the shattered window, landing on the lawn. He ran toward Jonathan, Margot, and the Mech, fury burning on his hideous pitch black face. The Mech fired on the creature.

Hundreds of .50 caliber shells tore through the beast like an old coat. Nemesis split, reformed, and was chewed to pieces again, screeching terribly the entire time. The officer must have realized the futility of simply dicing it up over and over again. The Mech’s left arm aimed at Nemesis. A blue pilot flame lit. A stream of fire issued from the vented, tubular muzzle, engulfing the gelatinous, black form writhing on the lawn. The scream that issued from it, when the flame thrower took over, sounded like a thousand children massacred.

Jonathan ran from the horrifying scene with Margot in tow. Coagulated blood trailed from her nose, ears, and mouth, but otherwise she seemed to be in pretty good shape. Jay found them in the melee and rushed to scoop up his daughter. She, in turn, wrapped her arms around him.

Jonathan and Jay looked back to where the creature, Nemesis, rose up from the burning lawn one last time. Another burst from the Mech’s flamethrower finished what was left. Nemesis rose no more. Jonathan breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad that’s finally over.”

Jay grabbed his arm. “It’s not over yet. Stokes is awake!” He pointed past the garage to where their wrecked police van had come to rest. “That’s him hovering between the Mechs.”

•

Agent Wong’s voice could be heard above the rest of the commotion, calling over a bullhorn for Stokes to surrender peacefully. Stokes had spotted Jay, Jonathan, and more importantly, Margot. He blasted one of the Mech’s blocking his advance. Immediately, the other Mechs opened fire on him.

The .50 caliber shells ricocheted away from an invisible barrier Samuel had placed around himself. He halted his advance, momentarily, in order to deal with the Police Mechs—not because he needed to, but because he wanted to.

Inside the cockpit of the first Mech where Samuel’s attention fell, the operator’s body exploded in a crimson flash, painting the clear canopy red. The robot slumped slightly, and a medical warning light flashed on top, indicating pilot death had occurred. Another Mech lunged for him.

Samuel pulled yet another Police Mech into the path of the aggressor. They slammed into one another before reaching Samuel. The aggressor tried to get his robot up, but the one under Samuel’s control opened fire at point blank range with both the .50 caliber machine turret and the flame thrower. All of the firepower bathed the downed Mech and its pilot. The bullet proof canopy shattered under the repeated hits, exposing the pilot to his doom.

Samuel levitated the third Mech and sent it hurtling into the crowd of police now firing their guns on him. Agent Wong barely managed to leap away before the large robot bowled over his car. He stood, his clothes covered in dirt, his bullhorn cracked in his hands.

Samuel continued his advance toward Jonathan, Jay, and Margot. They turned to run, but not quick enough. Samuel seized the men and tossed them away from the girl. He had considered killing them both, but thought better of it. His goal was to protect the girl, not cause her to hate him. She might anyway, but killing her surrogate father and his friend would guarantee it.

Jay and Jonathan tumbled across the lawn as Samuel came to rest next to Margot. Surprisingly, she did not appear to be afraid of him. Perhaps, she already had some understanding of who he was—that they were more alike than any other people on the planet. “I’m here to protect you, Margot.”

The air vibrated around them as Samuel reestablished the invisible shield with his mind. They rose up from the ground together, as though standing upon some invisible surface. Then, without further incident, the invisible bubble whisked them both away, across the city. Jonathan and Jay, along with all of the surviving police officers and Agent Wong, could only watch helplessly.

17 DECEIVED

Samuel slowed their flight across the city and brought himself and Margot down upon the top of a skyscraper. They landed among the gravel laid out upon the rooftop, as Samuel’s invisible shield dissipated. He breathed heavily, stepping away from Margot for a moment.

Samuel turned sharply when he heard the menacing tone in the little girl’s voice—not quite like a little girl at all. He realized, too late, something was wrong.

Margot pushed both hands toward Samuel, pummeling him with a kinetic blast that sent him hurtling out away from the rooftop of the building. His body ached from the power unleashed upon him. He barely had time to reestablish his forcefield before tumbling through the glass window of an adjacent building.

Samuel picked himself up, amid panicked screams from office workers. Smashed desks and office partitions lay all around him as he stood. The astonished employees could do nothing but watch as the young boy, who had just crashed into their business, walked over to the shattered window, fifty stories up, and flew out through it again.

As Samuel flew through the air, back to where Margot had attacked him, he saw the little girl standing upon the edge of the rooftop. Her wicked smile warned him that he may not be dealing with just a little girl anymore. “Who are you? What have you done to Margot?” It was a long-shot, but he had a hunch.

Margot laughed maniacally. “Figured it out, did you? Well, I won’t give you an ‘A’ for effort. After all, I did sort of tip you off…of the building anyway.” She laughed again.

“You’re that thing that Dr. Young and Jonathan were talking about, aren’t you?”

Margot tapped her small chin as Samuel floated in the air before her. “You know, I just keep changing. Now, I’m Margot, as well. That just means she gets to become a god with me!”

The girl started to laugh, but then doubled over, seemingly in pain. She screamed furiously, and the true little girl seemed to return in that moment. “Get out of my body!” Margot grabbed both sides of her head, screaming as Nemesis fought for control in her mind. A shockwave surged away from her in every direction at once.

Samuel shielded himself, but still it threw him back in the air. The windows on the neighboring skyscrapers reverberated and shattered. Showers of glass rained down upon pedestrians, and vehicles traveling on the streets below.

“Margot, I’m trying to help you. Fight the creature!” Samuel pleaded.

Margot looked at him menacingly. Nemesis had taken control again. He reached out through the girl’s body, sending the gravel from the rooftop flying like thousands of bullets toward Samuel. He dodged away as the rock shower pelted the building behind him like a shotgun blast. Concrete chips and glass shards fell away from the damage, toward the street.

Margot managed to shield herself as Samuel rose up to the rooftop again, hitting her with a kinetic blast of his own. She tumbled inside her own invisible bubble and smashed through a digital billboard setup on the roof. The sign showered sparks down upon the building, but Margot had already regained control.

Using her power, she tore away from Samuel through the air, heading for the street. Samuel followed after her. He still wanted to protect the girl—more than ever. But he had no idea how he could remove her from the grasp of the monster fighting her now from within.

•

“Well, we can’t just sit here! We’ve got to get my baby back.” Jay paced back and forth in front of the police van. “Isn’t there anything your people can do, Wong?”

Wong looked at him, then Jonathan. “We should have a visual on them in a moment. I’ve got twenty seekers looking for them throughout the city.”

Jonathan looked back toward the yard near one of the shattered Mechs. A patch of the lawn still smoldered—the remains of the Nemesis creature imprinted in char and ashes. Jay came up beside him and sighed, putting his hand on Jonathan’s shoulder. “At least that’s one problem taken care of, right?”

Jonathan took a long moment to consider it. “Somehow, I’m not so sure.”

“What do you mean?” Jay motioned to the scorch mark. “He couldn’t survive that.”

“I know…” Jonathan couldn’t quite figure out what was bothering him about the situation with Nemesis. “It’s just that when I fought him in the house, he seemed different…more feral…less the calculated psychopath we’ve all come to love.” Jonathan walked toward the smoldering pile of black ash. Jay followed him. A team of emergency workers managed to pry open the damaged cockpit of the nearby Mech, in order to get the pilot out—the one that had toasted Nemesis. “What are you thinking, Jonathan?”

“Trenton hid under the van when we left the Halo Tech plaza with Stokes. He tossed us down the driveway in the van, but he wasn’t after us. He ran for the house, for Margot.”

Jay’s expression grew panicked. “But why would he want her?”

“He was hiding under the van, listening all that time…Stokes was rambling on about her being like him. When I went inside, I found Nemesis oozing all over her.”

Jay looked like he might explode any moment with frustration.

Jonathan continued. “When I came in and confronted him, Nemesis tossed her away, but it didn’t act the way Trenton normally did. I didn’t think anything about it at the time, but what if he managed to do more than just attack her?”

Jay was on the verge of tears. The idea that the Nemesis creature might have done something to his daughter ate at his very soul.

Agent Wong piped in from one of the police trucks on the scene. “Gentlemen, I believe we’ve got them!”

Jonathan and Jay rushed to the truck where Agent Wong worked to fine tune the reception on the seeker reporting visual contact. On the video monitor, an explosion rocked through a crowded street.

Pedestrians ran screaming for cover. Cars soared through the air, on fire. A shattered fire hydrant sprayed water over the street. The seeker zoomed in on one of the targets.

Samuel Stokes barely evaded a burning family sized sedan, flying through the air towards him. With a swipe of his arm, he redirected the huge missile into a nearby building lobby, shattering its costly glass façade.

When the seeker zoomed in on the other target, they saw little Margot in the middle of the street—wrecked, abandoned cars all around her. She was laughing. With a twirl of her small arms, she caused two more abandoned cars to levitate, hurling them toward Stokes.

Jay stood there watching his daughter on the monitor, his mouth agape. “I can’t believe it.” He looked into Jonathan’s eyes. “She’s never manifested her power, not like this.”

Jonathan took another look at the monitor, at the little girl tossing burning cars at Samuel Stokes with her mind, keeping the young man on the run and apparently having the time of her life doing so. “Jay, I don’t think that’s Margot doing it.”

Jay looked again, this time at the girl’s face, as the seeker zoomed in further. The gaunt expression, the devious smile, and lethargic eyes. “She looks possessed, or something.”

Jonathan and Jay stared at one another, sharing the same horrible epiphany again. “Nemesis!”

Agent Wong stared at them in disbelief. “What are you two saying…that creature is still alive?”

Jonathan looked at him. “Not just alive, Mr. Wong, he’s somehow controlling the girl, using her power. He’s mutated in the past. This may be another transformation he’s trying to go through in order to gain the girl’s power.”

Agent Wong almost laughed—almost. “Wait, wait…are you saying your daughter has these psychic abilities like Samuel Stokes?”

Jay tried to hold back his frustration. “Margot was a product of the Halo Project, only indirectly. Her parents were some of Sarkov’s initial case studies. Margot was born to them before they died from the experiments. She’s never shown the same abilities before today.”

Jonathan watched the destructive scene playing out on the monitor. “Well, Nemesis has certainly been able to tap into her potential in a big way. Stokes is barely holding on. She’s really trying to kill him.”

Jay reconsidered. “I guess not. After all, I put you through all kinds of stuff when I was a kid, and you still looked out for me.

Jonathan turned to Agent Wong. “What do you have that might stop those two?”

18 DEVASTATION

Police officers in riot gear, and other specialized equipment, swarmed around their mobile base of operations as Jonathan followed Agent Wong to the back of a large, tractor trailer truck. Wong opened the rear door with a pass key, motioning for them to follow him in.

The three of them passed through a secure, stainless steel code door. Beyond the door, stood what appeared to be a military command center with all manner of high tech monitoring equipment and several personnel running it.

Agent Wong went to one of the monitoring stations where a tech sat, controlling more seeker cameras. “What have you got, Steve?” Wong asked.

“I’d say, the fight of the century…this is unbelievable!” Steve said, enthusiastically.

Agent Wong cleared his throat forcefully. “Let’s keep it by the book, Steve.”

“Uh, yes, sir. The girl still has Stokes on the run. I think he must be trying to wear her down, or something. He throws attacks at her, but nothing lethal.”

Jay watched the monitors, concern etched across his middle-aged face. “Let’s hope he keeps it that way.” He looked at Jonathan. “There’s no telling what he’ll do if he feels desperate. He might just give up this whole protect the innocent girl thing, and go for the kill.” His own words appeared to visibly unsettle him.

Agent Wong piped in. “We’re going to try not to let it come to that, Dr. Young.”

Jay appeared skeptical. “Yeah, how?”

Agent Wong pointed back to one of the video monitors where at least fifty police officers in SWAT uniforms had prepared for battle. “I’ve got these officers going in with tranquilizers. Hopefully they can put Stokes and the girl down before this gets even more out of control. They’re sharpshooters.”

It was Jonathan’s turn to appear skeptical. “Somehow, I don’t picture Nemesis allowing those officers to do anything. He’ll kill them, as sure as you’re sending them in there.”

Agent Wong tried not to take the criticism personally. “Well, it’s just one possibility. I’ve got something else to show you, gentlemen.” He escorted them beyond the recon station, into the front of the compartment.

Jay continued to look the battle suit over. “I’m still a government contractor, Daniel. I have friends in high places—eyes and ears.”

Wong smiled wanly. “Remind me to get their names and addresses later.”

Jonathan moved closer, giving the suit a cursory examination of his own. “What can it do?”

Wong smiled. “For starters, it enhances the strength of the wearer by five times. On an ordinary man that’s pretty good, but on you it would be incredible, Mr. Hallowed.

Wong pointed to what appeared to be metal gloves which surrounded the wearer’s hands. “Two Omega Six charge packs power these electrostatic guns located in the fingertips of each glove. The voltage is selective, meaning you could set them to simply stun an individual, or go all the way to barbecuing them.”

Jay caught Jonathan by the shoulders. “I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t my daughter on the line, Jonathan. It’s just that you’re the best qualified candidate.”

“Jay, I’ve never used a suit like this before.”

“The suit is easy enough…the problem is the punishment you may have to endure.” Jay seemed ashamed for even suggesting it now.

Jonathan smiled, patting his shoulder. “Of course, you’re right, Jay.” Jonathan knew the truth. He could take more punishment in a fight than any of the police officers could. He would stand a much better chance of delivering a stunning blast without getting killed in the process. It seemed the only viable option available.

He started toward the chair. Jay caught him by the shoulder. “Jonathan, if you don’t want to do this…I mean, with your body still on full burn and everything, it could kill you just from using your strength and healing too much.”

“Nonsense,” Jonathan said. “This is your daughter. She needs you. No matter what happens, my time is short. Maybe this is why the Lord has kept me kicking this long…so I could help get your daughter back from Trenton.” He turned to Wong. “Now, show me how to get into this thing, so I can get out there.”

•

Samuel hurled another kinetic blast at Margot, as she mentally pushed aside several cars blocking her way on the street. She deflected the force of Samuel’s attack, allowing it to barrel into a parked vehicle, crushing it like a soda can.

“You’ll have to do better than that, Stokes!” she said.

Samuel hovered away from her, as she advanced down Vineyard Avenue. Pedestrians had taken shelter from the battle raging in the streets, abandoning their vehicles for the sake of their lives.

Samuel wasn’t sure how to regain control of the girl. He hadn’t been expecting such a fight out of her. She was giving him a run for his money. Only his greater experience with these abilities had saved his life, so far. No matter what, he still had no desire to destroy the girl. He had wanted so badly to free her, to protect her from scientists like Dr. Young and protect her from the fate dished out to his Halo Project siblings. Everything had gone terribly wrong.

A line of police officers entered the area carrying rifles. Samuel noticed them first. Tranquilizers. He thought, for a moment, to stop them from interfering, but with Margot out of control, he reconsidered. Maybe if he distracted her they could get a shot and take her down. Then he could retrieve her and try to help her.

He had no idea how he might remove the creature possessing her mind, but he knew for her sake he had to try. “Margot, fight that thing inside of you! Don’t let it have its way with your mind!” he called.

The girl seemed to falter for a moment, struggling again as she had before. The moment was short lived. Several more parked cars flew into the air toward Samuel. He seized them, forcing her to push against him for control of the vehicles floating over the street between them.

The sharpshooters took aim from positions behind Margot. When they had her in their sights, they fired the tranquilizers. Margot released the vehicles and spun on the officers, shielding herself from the projectiles. With a blast of her mind, the tranquilizer cartridges shattered in flight.

A shadow bore down upon her as she turned again to face Samuel. The vehicles she had released during their mental struggle hurtled back down upon her position. There was no time to stop them.

Margot launched herself away as the cars came crashing down where she had been standing. One of the vehicles exploded. The shockwave sent her tumbling across the pavement. When she stood, cuts and scrapes covered her small body. A vicious leer appeared on her face again. “Not nice to hurt little girls, Samuel!”

Samuel watched her on the street below, pouring her energies into something he couldn’t see yet. He hovered nearly thirty feet off the ground—something he realized would tax his own energies and put him at a disadvantage.

Margot squeezed her eyes shut, then screamed at the top of her lungs. The building to Samuel’s right exploded, showering his body in concrete, steel, and glass debris. The building looked like a giant had taken a huge bite right out of the side.

Samuel fell to the street, barely able to shield himself from the debris pushing him down with it. The shower of metal and stone cascaded to the pavement, smashing into more abandoned cars. Several exploded, releasing orange fire balls in the midst of the gray cloud of concrete dust.

19 TAG TEAM

Jonathan watched the battle unfold below him. He inched closer to the edge of the building to better judge his target. Margot suddenly screamed in fury on the street below. Samuel hovered nearby some thirty feet in the air, but still below Jonathan’s perch.

Jonathan watched in astonishment as the glass panes on the building near Samuel shimmered, vibrating. Then a huge portion of that same side of the building burst outward, covering Samuel in a maelstrom of debris. The whole mess hit the street below, right in the middle of an abandoned traffic jam.

Jonathan stood up, judging the distance. He backed over the rooftop, then ran as hard as he could toward the edge of the building. He knew it would take everything he had to reach Margot.

He ran to the edge of the building, leaping away from it, wearing the exoskeleton Agent Wong had given him. Jonathan sailed through the air out over the battleground below. The suit felt a little heavy, but its micro-hydraulics more than made up for the instability. Jonathan assumed a normal man would not have been able to get this kind of jump out of the suit.

Gravity overtook the force Jonathan had expended. He plummeted toward the street, and Margot standing upon it. Jonathan charged the weapon system, feeling a slight, tingling hum course through the gloves. Agent Wong had told him the electrodes contained in the helmet would allow him to use thought in order to discharge the gloves and control the current. All suit parameters, as well as his own visual information, displayed upon the inside of the helmet visor.

With a thought, the display zoomed in on Margot’s face as she stood relishing a seeming victory over Samuel Stokes. He had not yet emerged from the pile of rubble. Jonathan noticed the facial expression and was reminded of Trenton during some of their own exchanges so many years ago, before cryonics brought them to this time. Margot turned her head skyward and saw him. Jonathan aimed one of the gloves, watching the onscreen targeting icon zero in on the little girl.

An invisible force battered him inside the suit, knocking him away like a bothersome gnat. Jonathan flew away backwards, tumbling until he hit something solid. He smashed through the concrete wall of the building he had just leaped from.

Jonathan heard people screaming around him as he tumbled through the building, striking obstacles. He came to rest inside the office cubby of a terrified woman with disheveled blonde hair. She looked aghast, her red framed spectacles sitting askew on her face.

She had managed to grab the keyboard to her desktop computer, before Jonathan and his exoskeleton pummeled it into oblivion. The woman looked like she wanted to scream. Jonathan extricated himself from the destroyed desk. He lurched through the office, full of wide-eyed employees, following his own path of destruction back the way he had come. He waved at a few along the way. “How ya doin?”

When he came to the hole in the building, he found Margot staring at the pile of rubble she had laid on top of Samuel. The debris parted as Samuel lifted himself out, levitating above the smoldering pile of wreckage. He was injured, but holding his own.

Jonathan wondered if he would now have to fight them both. He put a bead on Margot, locking on target. The display beeped inside his helmet, telling him the girl was too far away. He would have to get closer—perhaps with her attention drawn to Samuel.

Jonathan stood, darting back through the office building. Shocked employees stumbled out of his way as he made for the elevator. This would be his shortest way down to the street level. The indicator lit up for his floor and dinged. The double doors opened, and Jonathan climbed inside the car with his exo-suit as a frightened security guard spilled out of the car, carrying a fire extinguisher. “Excuse me,” Jonathan said. The guard only looked at him with his mouth hanging open.

The doors closed in front of him, and Jonathan tapped the first floor button. The car groaned into motion. He noticed the weight limit sign bolted next to the control panel. Jonathan gulped down the lump in his throat, praying he wasn’t exceeding that limit right now.

•

Samuel descended until his feet touched the scorched asphalt. He stood scowling at Margot, fifty yards away. “Release the girl!” he shouted.

Margot smiled. “I don’t see any reason why I should. What’s the matter, can’t bring yourself to kill a little girl, Stokes?”

The building next to Samuel groaned as fires spread throughout the structure, following Margot’s explosion minutes before. He was still standing underneath it. “I’ll do what I have to,” Samuel said. “She’d be better off dead, than possessed by some psycho monster.”

Margot frowned sarcastically. “Ah, please don’t hurt me, Mister, I’m just a wittle girl…and girls just wanna have fun!”

The pavement peeled away in chunks between them, as Margot sent a shockwave barreling toward Samuel. The asphalt flew at him, the very ground beneath his feet erupting.

Samuel diverted some of the heavy debris, dodging past other portions as he retreated. Margot pulled on the half destroyed building with her mind and sent it careening over top of Samuel.

He tried to blast away as much of the oncoming building as possible before it buried him, but it simply had too much mass and momentum. Samuel shielded himself as best he could, before the whole thing came down on top of him. The building collapse sounded like a bomb going off. Billowing gray clouds of concrete dust rose into the air, rushing along the nearby streets for nearly a mile. Car alarms rang out, and hundreds of people screamed like the end of the world had finally come upon them.

Margot simply stood, shielding herself from the cloud of debris. It washed over her like a tsunami, while her kinetic bubble kept her safe and sound.

When the dust finally began to settle, after several minutes, Margot noticed a shadow running toward her from one of the other buildings. She realized, a moment too late, it was the same person, dressed in an exoskeleton, who had tried to attack her moments ago.

They lashed out at one another—her with a kinetic blast, he with an electrostatic charge resembling a bolt of blue lightning. The charge connected first, penetrating the column of intensely vibrating air Margot had been using as a shield. She jolted and flew back ten feet, landing on the pavement.

Jonathan had only just managed to discharge his weapon when an invisible brick wall smashed into him. He flew backwards thirty feet, stopping only when his exoskeleton collided with the front façade of the building he had just exited.

He heard the wall of glass and steel partitions buckle, shattering around him as he came to a skidding halt within the building lobby. The glass cut him up pretty badly, but his enhanced healing had already stopped the bleeding and begun to seal up the wounds by the time he stood again.

Jonathan ran back toward the shattered entrance, grabbing a thick, tubular piece of steel from the debris. When he entered the street again, Margot had already managed to get to her knees. He had hoped the charge would have left her unconscious, but with Nemesis onboard it wouldn’t be that easy.

•

Jonathan leaped over a wrecked car and hit the pavement running. The girl threw a small hand toward him, straining to exert her power. Chunks of debris, both small and large, flew at Jonathan. He dodged a twisted car door, then batted away a piece of concrete with the steel pole.

More and more debris rose from the road, hurtling toward him. The onslaught forced Jonathan to stop and defend himself against the attack. In the meantime, Margot got back to her feet. She sent a thin metal rod into the fray concentrating on getting it by Jonathan’s defense. The rod bypassed a swing at another piece of debris and plunged into his stomach.

The strike threw his defense off for a moment—long enough for a piece of concrete to hammer him back into a parked car. Margot laughed, quite pleased that another police officer had bit the dust.

Then, the man moved. He actually got up. Margot studied him, finally realizing who he must be. “Jonathan?”

Jonathan stood and pulled the piece of steel from his abdomen, grunting inside his helmet from the pain. The blood flow was minimal and quickly stopped altogether. The wound began to close quickly.

Margot smiled wanly. “I see you’ve got some new toys to play with, Jonathan, though it won’t do you much good.”

Jonathan raised a gloved hand, pointing the fingers toward the little girl. On his helmet display, the target lock beeped. He discharged the weapon again. Margot tried to shield herself, but vibrating air currents couldn’t stop a static charge like it did solid objects. The energy passed through her defense, hitting her square again.

Margot was thrown by the discharge. She landed ten feet away in a pile of gray concrete dust from the fallen building. Jonathan took advantage of the moment and ran toward her.

Nemesis fought for control of his host, pushing the little girl to stand despite the pain. Margot shot up from the ground covered in gray dust. Jonathan had managed to get within fifteen feet of her. Margot raised her hands toward her attacker, a devilish grin playing on her lips. “Time to die, Jonathan.”

Jonathan raised another charged glove hoping to discharge it before she stopped him. The wave of power that hit him seized his body and sought to tear it apart. His feet left the ground, levitating before Margot as her power surged through him.

20 TORN

Jonathan felt bone cracking, sinew and muscle tearing, and organs on the verge of bursting within his body. Margot, possessed by Nemesis, leered at him, teeth bared as the full fury of her parasite’s rage surged from her mind into and through Jonathan’s levitated form. He jerked against the pain, crying out as waves of agony coursed through him. Only his mutagen enhanced strength and healing did anything to keep his body from exploding under the strain.

As tissues tore within him, Jonathan felt his body trying to keep up, healing them, only to feel them torn again. He looked into her eyes, willing himself not to pass out. “Help me, Lord Jesus!”

Waves of pain overcame him. He screamed at the top of his lungs for mercy. The possessed little girl had none for him. Jonathan hit the ground amid thunderous booms. Samuel, bloody and bruised, threw an onslaught of debris and damaged vehicles toward Margot. He had somehow emerged alive from the wreckage of the fallen building.

Margot frantically turned her attention toward Samuel’s attack, trying to deflect at least a hundred different objects flying at her from every direction. Her power was taxed at this point, but Nemesis wouldn’t give up his hold.

Jonathan summoned the last vestiges of his waning strength, pushing up on his hands and knees. He lunged for the girl, tackling her while her back was too him. She struggled in his grip, until he turned her to face him.

Blood poured from Jonathan’s ears, nose, and mouth, a sign of desperate internal hemorrhaging. He lifted Margot, shouting with everything he had left. “Lord Jesus, I beg you to intervene and release Margot from Trenton’s hold!”

Margot blasted him away with her mind and fell to her knees as Jonathan’s body tumbled limp across the dust-caked asphalt. She tried to stand again, but was overtaken by quaking in her body.

Samuel stopped his attack when Jonathan grabbed the girl. He watched, bewildered by Jonathan’s tactic. Margot’s body now shuddered. Her mind seemed to return with new strength against the parasite controlling her. “Lord Jesus, help me!” she cried.

A wave of pain hit her. She fell to the ground, heaving on her hands and knees. Black fluid issued from her nose and mouth, spilling onto the concrete. The fluid tried to take form again, but Samuel was already there.

He summoned a burning heat with his mind, igniting the gelatinous creature writhing on the ground before him. Nemesis, all that was left of his form, burst into flame, screeching and clawing at the pavement until the fire consumed him. After a few moments, only ash remained of the creature Trenton Hallowed had become.

•

Jonathan barely had the strength left to open his eyes. He found Samuel Stokes kneeling next to him, along with Jay, who was holding tightly to his daughter, Margot. Jonathan looked at Jay’s face, hoping to find a smile, some sign that all was finally well. “Is Margot all right?” he managed through labored breaths.

Jonathan looked at Samuel. He still looked bewildered by what had happened—even more by how it had happened. “Samuel, don’t go on hating people. We all make mistakes. That’s why God gave us the Savior.”

Samuel could only stare into his eyes. Even after all he had done to the man, Jonathan still had only kind words for him. Samuel managed a weak nod, placing his hand on Jonathan’s.

Jonathan turned to Jay. “Help him understand, Jay.”

Jay gulped down the lump gathering in his throat. “I will—” Then he realized Jonathan was already gone.

21 RECONCILED

Jay placed a single red rose on Jonathan’s casket, as the few other mourners began to make their way back across the cemetery to their cars. Margot stood next to her father, wiping tears from her eyes. The preacher came by and shook his hand, before walking away from the grave site.

Jay and Margot lingered at the casket with its wreaths of flowers lying on top. He looked back toward the few cars now pulling away from the cemetery. “He had to die in a time when no one even knew who he was,” Jay said. He had not recognized the few men who had shown up for Jason’s graveside service.

“But, Dad, we knew who he was. You’ve told me about him all my life. Even if I didn’t get to see him, but for a short moment, I still knew him. We’ll never forget Jonathan, will we?”

Jay smiled at his daughter, stroking her dark hair. “You’re right, sweetheart. I suppose we had better get going. Jonathan once told me he wondered if God had let him live until this time, so that he could bring you back to me. I guess, now, his work really is finished.”

Jay had not bothered with an autopsy. It had been clear that Jonathan’s body had finally expended all of the hyper-metabolic strength it had. It was over. Jonathan had run his race and finished his course. He was safe now.

They walked back to the road where their driver waited with the car door open. Fall leaves rustled along the ground as the nip of a cool October morning waited to be burned away by the noonday sun.

•

Samuel Stokes sat inside his cell in Imperial City’s maximum security holding facility. A bracelet blinked red on his ankle. Any attempt to escape the cell, or facility, would trigger hidden electrostatic devices to stun him into unconsciousness.

Samuel watched the wall, thinking about all that had happened. He had surprised himself by surrendering to the authorities, following the destructive battle with the Nemesis creature. He knew he could escape if he wanted to, but he wouldn’t. Something Jonathan Hallowed had said to him, made him realize the futility of what he was doing. The little girl, Margot, had even pleaded with him, afterward, not to use his power to hurt people anymore.

He still wasn’t sure why he felt this way. Revenge had not brought him the satisfaction he had hoped for. A lot of people had been hurt who never had anything to do with his situation. Samuel realized he hadn’t been anymore fair to those people, than Andre Sarkov had been to him and his Halo Project siblings.

Jay Young appeared outside the transparent plexi-steel barrier, serving as the front wall and doorway to his cell. He spoke through an intercom positioned in the middle of the barrier. “Samuel, how are you feeling?”

Samuel stood up and walked over to the front of the cell. “Not too bad, I suppose, Doc.” He noticed Jay’s dark suit with a rose on the lapel. “Jonathan’s funeral was today, wasn’t it?”

Samuel gave him a cautious look. “True, Samuel, but not for the reason you think. Jonathan didn’t go there because he was good, but because his faith was in Jesus Christ.”

Samuel looked downcast. “Sure, who wouldn’t want to save a guy like him? After all I put him through, he still didn’t hate me. I just don’t understand how he could do that.”

Jay remembered Jonathan’s last words. “Help him understand, Jay.” He smiled at Samuel, reaching into his coat pocket. Jay removed a small Bible and opened it to the Gospel of John, chapter three. He looked down the page where his eyes fell on verse number sixteen. Jay looked at Samuel and grinned. “Let’s have a talk.”