Coalition of the Damned - 03 (29 page)

“It’s not the same and we both know it.”

Jack sat there a moment and slowly started to smile. “Ski
pper, I have an idea.”

Matt looked up at him and gave Jack a very uneasy stare. “Why is my gut twisting on me, Jack?”

“Well…you may not like it at first, but it really is a good idea, especially if you think about it logically.”

“Jesus, Jack, my gut just did a flip flop and I have this u
ngodly urge to mutter ‘oh shit’ and you haven’t said a goddam thing yet,” Matt said, his sixth sense buzzing at him like a bee in a bonnet.

Jack’s smile widened and he threw back his own scotch. He set the glass on the Colonel’s desk and placed his hands on e
ither side of the desk as he smiled at him. “I got the
perfect
replacement for Laura.”

“Oh, shit…”

“No, now, hear me out,” Jack said.

“I had to say it. Never go against your gut.”

“Tufo.”

“Fuck me…” Matt groaned.

“No! Listen to me, Matt. He’s perfect for the job!” Jack argued.

“How the hell can you say that, Chief?” Matt argued. “He’s an arrogant, self-centered, son-of-a-bitch that goes off halfcocked—”

Tufo yelled from the Lobby, “I can hear you, ya know.”

Matt stopped mid-rant and looked at Jack. He leaned fo
rward and whispered at him, “You brought him with you?”

“The whole team’s out there,” he said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s perfect for the job, Matt and you know it. AND, it wouldn’t require him to go through augmentation, AND he’s proven he can work as a negotiator, AND…” Jack paused as he recalled Mark’s comment about the tracking devi
ces and then nuking the head vampire. “And, he’s a pretty sharp guy, Skipper. Maybe a little more brutal than I thought he’d be, but he’s damned sharp.”

Jack leaned back in his chair and stared at Mitchell. “You said yourself that he was probably the closest thing to a best friend you had back in the day and the guy was one hell of an operator.”

Matt inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. He never took his eyes off Jack and he studied him. “I’ve always taken your input as equally important as Laura’s Jack, you know that,” he stated. “There was a reason you were made Team Leader of First Squad.” Matt stood up and poured himself another drink. He poured Jack one and reached for a third glass. “Tufo!”

“What?!” came the yell from the hallway outside.

“Get your old, wrinkled ass in here,” Mitchell barked.

Mark sauntered around the corner and leaned against the doorway. “You bellowed, oh great one?” he said slowly.

Matt sat back down and slid the third drink across the desk. “Clean out that chair and have a seat.”

“What for?” Mark asked, eying Mitchell suspiciously.

“Long term employment opportunities,” Matt said.

*****

“This is total fucking bullshit!” the security officer yelled as he threw a radio across the security office. It just missed the bank of monitors showing the different locations where cameras were running twenty four hours a day and manned here in the ‘man-cave’ by Wackenhut’s top-notch security personnel around the clock. The man behind the banks of monitors flinched when the radio bounced off the enclosure but never removed his eyes from the screen.

“Calm down, James.” The captain of the contracted security forces was doing his best to calm the man, but he knew it would do no good. Most of his men were either ex-military commandos or SWAT team members or some other form of elite fighter or they wouldn’t have gotten this billet. With those kinds of men came large egos and those egos were sometimes easily bruised. “Anderson bailed on us and left the base to this nitwit Mitchell. We can’t help that.”

“That doesn’t give his people the right to just slip past all of our defenses and not explain to us
how
!” the man screamed. “We need to know where the weaknesses are so we can strengthen them and I want to know what the fuck they were using to make those half-naked guys disappear and reappear like that…they could be any fucking where.”

“We’re going to figure it out and we’re going to get some answers, but blowing your top and demanding answers from somebody like Mitchell isn’t the way to do it,” Captain Roberts said, trying to make his voice soothing. Logic rarely worked when one of his best had his temper flared and James McDo
nald’s temper wasn’t just flared, he was past the boiling point. “We’re going to have to use kid gloves with this guy if we want to get answers.”

“Fuck that!” McDonald spat. “We ought to just go in there, cuff the bastard and beat the answers out of him. I guaran-damn-tee ya that me and the boys could get some answers out of that full bird if you’d just let us do our fucking jobs.”

Roberts pointed a finger at him, “Your job is to do what
I
tell you to do. Do you understand me?” He jabbed the finger into his chest to emphasize his point. “Do you?”

McDonald glared at him, his eyes wild. “I got you,” he said quietly. “I don’t have to like it though.”

“No, you don’t,” Roberts agreed. “The time for liking it comes later,” he added, an evil smile crossing his features.

James glanced at him, unsure that he caught his meaning. “What do you have in mind?”

“Payback, of course. Nobody breaks into
my
base, abducts
my
men and then tells me to stand down over it,” he threatened. “Not unless they want their dick slammed in the door.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear.” McDonald smiled, calming down somewhat. “So what do you have in mind?”

Roberts shook his head slowly. “I don’t know yet.” He turned and watched all of the activity on the monitors. “But we’re recording everything that these bastards are doing.” He pointed to the screen. “This isn’t just some standard run-of-the-mill change of command here.”

“Then what is it?” James asked, studying the screens.

“I don’t know,” Roberts answered. “It’s more like…an invasion.” He tapped the monitor at the top. “Look at all this shit they’re moving into the underground bunker. Who needs that much crap? And who are all these new fucking people? We don’t have any of their files, their security clearances, their service jackets, health records…nothing. It’s like they just blew into town and the new sheriff tells me to mind my own fucking business and guard the gates?!” He glanced at James again. “Fuck him. I’m going to get to the bottom of all this and when I do, I’m going to throw a monkey wrench into their works that will make the Titanic look like a dinghy sprung a leak!”

James laughed and clapped his captain on the back. “That’s what I wanted to fucking hear.” He sat up straight and squared his shoulders. “Finally, somebody with some
balls
around here.”

*****

Max tossed his bag onto the bed of the room he had been given. He didn’t bother to look around or check out his surroundings. He knew that time was now their enemy. He needed to call to the others and have them come here, to this place and for some the distance would hinder the speed in which they could respond. He walked back outside, his mind already preparing for what he must do, preparing to reach out to all of those like himself, his children, children of the wolf.

He walked out into the hustle and bustle of the different crews still moving the squad’s gear, unpacking, setting up, pr
eparing…he moved past it all as if they weren’t even there. His eyes searched, looking for the proper place. He could feel it, but he couldn’t find it. He closed his eyes and let the energy of the place flow through him. `

He felt his body being pulled to the west and his feet moved him in that direction. He walked past the different buildings, the hangars, the cafeteria, the machine shops, the repair shops, the manufacturing facilities, the contractor’s buildings until he found the spot his body was responding to. When he found the spot, he raised his arms and began to hum, low and deep from within his belly, the pitch and timbre slowly rising until it was audible to those nearby, though few paid any attention. To the few that did, it appeared that he may be meditating or practicing some form of yoga, but to the wolves on the base, they began to feel something stir inside them…

Each of the augmented operators felt a restlessness stir inside. Mitchell felt his wolf call to him stronger than when he found himself staring at the photo of the girl in the ice. Each of them felt an overwhelming desire to stop what they were doing and answer a call…a call so deep and basic that they would do anything to answer it. One by one they all stopped what they were doing and followed the sound that they felt more than heard. From the four corners of the facility, they found themselves each heading past the different buildings, the hangars, the cafeteria, the machine shops, the repair shops, the manufacturing facilities, the contractor’s buildings until they found the spot that the call was coming from. They found Max.

They formed a circle around him, staring as if entranced, one by one falling to their knees, their eyes never leaving him. Tufo had followed Jack out and even tried to get his attention a time or two but had realized that something wasn’t right when Jack didn’t respond. He stood there with the others now, mouth agape as he watched the monster squads all fall prostrate to the ground before this bearded guy in sandals like some kind of wacked out modern-age guru. He was about to draw on him when Matt walked by and stood in front of the group. He seemed mesmerized by whatever was happening here and Mark wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. His mind raced from bad to worse thoughts as he saw all of the people who now su
rrounded this guy…the squad members, their CO, Jack’s wife and in-laws…then he realized…Max was ‘calling’ the wolves. From wherever they may be, he was calling them
here
.

Mark holstered his weapon and waited, keeping an eye for any outside threats to what was happening. He waited a few more moments when just as suddenly as it had begun, Max stopped humming and all those around him seemed to suddenly wake up from whatever held them hypnotized. The group slowly came around and seemed disoriented at first, unsure of how they got there or what had actually occurred, but they knew that something was different. They still felt…
something
…a pull that made them want to come here, even though they
were
here.

Matt got to his feet and tried to clear his head. He seemed to have the most difficulty as he had tried the hardest to fight it, and his disorientation was taking longer to recover from. Max approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “You’re feeling fine, aren’t you, Colonel,” he stated more than asked.

Just as soon as Max said it, Mitchell felt right as rain. He cleared his throat and faced Max. “Yes, I am, thank you.” He glanced around at the others and asked in a low voice, “What the hell just happened?”

“I’ve called the others,” Max said, keeping his voice low. “I couldn’t do it without affecting all wolves.” His eyes betrayed him and Matt saw the sadness in them.

Mitchell simply nodded. “How soon?”

Max shook his head. “As soon as they can. They cannot fight it,” he stated. “As you noticed.”

“Even though you’ve stopped?”

Max nodded. “The seed has been planted. It will only co
ntinue to grow. As it does, the pull will grow stronger as well.”

Matt looked at the others who were starting to break up and try to go back to what they were doing before the interruption. “What of them? Of us?” he asked. “Of me? Will it continue to affect us all like the others? Continue to grow?”

Max shook his head. “You are already here. The effects will wear off shortly.” He patted the colonel on the back. “You’ve already achieved your goal.”

Matt nodded, trying to understand. “Very well,” he stated. “Keep me abreast of the numbers and we’ll do our best to house them as they come in.”

“As you wish, Colonel.”

Matt turned to leave and then caught himself. “Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes, Colonel?”

“Next time you do something like this, let me know first, okay? A little heads up would have been nice.”

Max’s eyes grew wide with realization then he bowed slightly. “Apologies, Colonel. Next time…if there ever
is
a next time, you will be informed beforehand.”

“Thank you,” Matt said, and fought the urge to call him ‘my liege’.

*****

Dom paced the area around the pool of fresh water while Grumpy waded through it with a spear in hand. He held the handmade spear aloft waiting for a fish to come into view, he pulled the spear back ready to throw it when Dom turned and yelled, “It’s right on the tip of my mind, but I just can’t…reach it!”

Lou sighed and lowered the spear. He turned and looked at Dominic, a sour expression crossing his features. “You’re scaring the fish, boy.”

“What?” Dom asked, his mind elsewhere.

“The fish.” Lou nodded toward the water. “You’re scaring them away.” He trudged back toward the shore and tossed the spear into the sand. “I thought you were hungry?”