H.A.L.F.: The Makers (40 page)

Ian squinted at her. “Who?”

Erika filled Ian in on all that Dr. Randall had confided in her about the Makers and their plans for the planet. The more Erika told him, the paler he got.

“I’d hoped to wait a few days to take Tex out of here, but if they’re badgering him now, I probably won’t be able to wait that long. Do you think you’ll be strong enough to come with us?”

Ian shuffled his foot in the sand and avoided her eyes.

“Ian?”

“I can’t go, Erika. I need to stay and look after my family. And I volunteered to help Dr. Montoya. My blood has antibodies in it. If I donate blood that can help her in her work to develop an antiviral, then that’s what I need to do. Plus, since I’ve already had the virus, I can help take care of the sick people here.”

The first real smile Erika had had in weeks spread across her face. She would miss Ian so much her heart would ache. But his choice reiterated to her why she loved him so much.

“I’ll miss you,” she said.

“You too. But hey, it’s not like we’ll never see each other again.”

He looked down into her eyes and a tear came to the edge of his eye. Unspilled and shining there like a small jewel.

A cloud passed over them and the light breeze made Erika’s skin prickle.

“You look exhausted. You should go find an empty bed. You’ll wake up with a clear head and the energy to fight again.”

Erika smiled. “What would I do without you?”

“Be a walking fashion disaster. Oh, wait, you already are.”

“Back at ya.”

They both laughed a tired laugh. It felt good even if it was mostly out of habit. Ian pulled her to him again and she let him. She rested in his arms a few minutes more then helped him back to bed. He was practically asleep before his head hit the pillow.

“Good-bye my friend,” she whispered as she kissed his forehead. “We’ll see each other again. Someday.”

Erika closed the door softly on her way out and hoped that what she’d whispered to Ian was true.

Someone in the entryway room had been shot. “Anna,” Jack whispered.

Alecto closed her eyes for a few seconds then blinked them open. “Anna is alive. We must act now. There are at least ten humans in that room.”

“Three are the Sturgises and friendly to us.”

Alecto nodded once. “The rest are hostiles. I do not have the strength yet to kill all of them. I will attempt to befuddle their minds, allowing you the opportunity to terminate them with your weapon. Retrieve one of their weapons and put it in the hands of Mr. Sturgis. I will focus my attention on the Croft woman.” She glided out of the room and was down the hall before Jack had fully entered the hallway.

Jack kept his back close to the wall as he followed after Alecto. The hallway opened up to the spacious main living area. Just inside the entryway, two guards stood behind a tall, fit man in a neatly tailored navy blue suit. The guards pointed their rifles at the man in the suit.

Alecto was only a few feet in front of Jack, and she stopped short of showing herself. She stood perfectly still and closed her eyes.

The two guards that Jack could see swayed on their feet. One dropped his gun as his hands shot to his temples to ease the icepick of pain that Jack knew Alecto had planted there.

Jack stepped away from the wall and moved a few feet closer. He planted his feet, held his breath and squinted through the sights. He targeted the man who had dropped his gun. He was still hunched over. Jack held the gun as steady as he could and fired, aiming for the man’s midsection.

The shot was silent and, to Jack’s surprise, hit his target. The man staggered forward from the pain of the bullet that had lodged in his hip. Jack had tried to hit him in the chest and missed, but he was relieved that the bullet hadn’t strayed so far as to hit Mr. Sturgis.

Jack wasted no time thinking. He lined up his sights again and fired at the other guard he could see. He pulled the trigger but missed. The bullet hit a large vase on a pedestal across the room.

He jogged to the other side of the hall and ducked against the wall. From this vantage point he could see the entire large room.

Robert struggled with the guard nearest him, trying to wrest his rifle away from him. The other guard that Jack had shot was advancing on Robert from behind.

And about ten feet further into the room, Anna sat on a chair. She was gagged. Her blonde hair hung in ratty tendrils around her heart-shaped face. One eye was swollen almost shut and ringed by a bruise. The other side of her face had a long gash slashed across it, including her eye. Blood poured down her face and had soaked her shirt red. She was twisting her wrists, trying to free them from the ropes that bound them.

Lizzy Croft stood behind Anna. She held Anna by the hair with one hand and had what looked like a hunting knife at Anna’s throat. There was a thin scrape of red across Anna’s throat. She yelled at her guards. “Stop him. What’s wrong with you?”

In a chair beside Anna was Thomas. He, too, was tied to the chair. His head was slumped forward. Beneath him was a pool of dark blood staining the otherwise spotless marble floor.

Lizzy sounded panicked by Alecto’s telekinetic attack on her men. “Stop, creature. I command you to protect me. You will obey and stop this.”

Jack lunged forward to help Mr. Sturgis. He kicked the guard he’d shot in the side where he’d taken the bullet. The man fell to his knees and cried out in agony. Jack easily pulled the gun from the man’s hands and quickly handed it to Robert.

Alecto must have been weakening. The guards were straightening. They no longer squinted and gripped their heads from the pain. One of them asked, “You want us to shoot her?”

“No,” Lizzy said. “We can’t kill it. My father needs it.”

Robert Sturgis took the rifle Jack handed him and promptly turned it on the guard he’d been fighting. He sent a barrage of bullets into the guy’s chest at nearly point-blank range. Blood sprayed across Robert’s expensive suit, and tiny droplets of blood covered Jack’s face.

Robert turned the gun on Lizzy. He advanced toward her and Jack followed behind him. He hoped Robert would occupy Lizzy so that Jack could help Anna get free and check on Thomas.

One of the guards next to Thomas moved his gun toward Robert. But the head of the Sturgis clan had fast reflexes. He shot that guard in the chest. The guard fell to the floor, but the guard on the other side of Thomas shot at Robert. Bullets whizzed, glass exploded, but the man was a lousy shot. He missed Robert by a mile.

Robert didn’t miss. The guard by Thomas took a bullet in the head.

Alecto must have regained some strength because the other two guards still standing swayed and one fell to his knees.

Jack set his sights on Lizzy. “Stand down or I put a bullet in your chest.” He held his gun with both hands, but his hand wavered.

“Trying to be a big man come to rescue the fair maiden. But you’re a scared little boy playing at a man’s game. Look at your hand shake.”

The red dot from the laser sight on his gun flitted erratically on Lizzy’s chest. Jack wanted to pull the trigger and put an end to Anna’s ordeal and get Thomas out of the place. But Lizzy still held a knife at Anna’s throat. Jack’s hands shook so badly and he was such a lousy shot, he was afraid if he shot at Lizzy, he’d miss and hit Anna. But Jack continued to aim his gun at her.

“I’ll tell you what. Put the gun down and walk away. This is a family matter, and you’re just the hired help, aren’t you, cowboy?”

Cowboy.
“Cowboy up,”
Erika had once said.

Lizzy’s shaky hand trembled at Anna’s neck and cut her again. Anna moaned in pain, her cries muffled by the gag she had on.

Jack took a steadying breath and fired. One bullet went wide left, but the second caught Lizzy in the shoulder and knocked her back. She dropped the knife and it clattered on the stone floor. She stared open-mouthed at Jack, her right hand holding her bleeding shoulder.

Jack didn’t take his gun off her as he walked closer to her. “Tell them to stand down or the next one goes between the eyes.” He aimed it at her head, the red laser light dancing in her eye.

Lizzy’s gloating sneer was gone. “Stand down!” she shouted.

Jack rushed to Anna. He kicked Lizzy’s knife across the room. He pulled the gag from Anna’s mouth and reached behind her to untie her wrists. “Are you all right?” he whispered in her ear.

She nodded slowly. Her wrists were purple and swollen. They were bound tightly with a strong nylon rope, but Jack was able to undo the knots.

Anna’s face was wet with tears and blood. Her eyes were both swollen nearly shut and her lip was puffed and bleeding. Jack knelt in front of her and undid the knots at her ankles.

He wanted to pick her up and carry her out of the place. He wanted to get her to a hospital and see her wounds cleaned and dressed and make sure that they gave her something to calm her nerves and take away her pain. But they weren’t out of the Croft lair. He picked up a rifle he’d scavenged from one of the dead men and handed it to her.

But she didn’t take it. Anna rose from the chair on visibly trembling legs and knelt before Thomas. “Thomas? Tommy,” she said. Her voice was soft and low. Her hands trembled as she fumbled with the rope at his ankles.

Jack knelt behind Thomas and got his wrists free. From the back he could see where the bullet had entered Thomas’ body. His shirt had a hole in it on the right side a few inches right of his spine. Jack quickly checked Thomas’ front with his hand. His hand was quickly covered in sticky blood. The bullet had gone through Thomas. Jack hoped that was a good thing. Thomas was alive but still bleeding and unconscious. If they didn’t get him to a hospital soon, he’d surely die.

Jack whispered in Anna’s ear, “The bullet went through. He’ll make it, Anna. Let’s get him out of here.” He maneuvered Thomas’ limp body across his left shoulder and pushed up. He grunted with the effort and had to stand still for a moment to steady himself.

“Behind me,” Robert ordered. He still had the rifle pointed at Lizzy.

Her face was less smug than it had been. She still held her hand to her shoulder to staunch the blood, but she stood tall and defiant.

Jack and Anna got behind Robert and his gun.

“You too, Alecto,” Robert said.

“No,” Lizzy said. Her voice was shrill and now lacked the confidence it had had when she was mocking Robert. “You cannot take it. It belongs to my father.”

Jack couldn’t help himself. It was like he was channeling Erika. “Her name is Alecto and she doesn’t belong to anybody.” He raised his gun with his right arm and winced from the pain it sent across his wounded shoulder. “She’s coming with us and we’re leaving. I’ll kill you myself if I have to.”

Any hint of a smirk was gone from Lizzy’s face. He’d already shot her once. She no longer taunted him.

Robert backed toward the door with Jack, Anna and Alecto behind him.

Lizzy stood and watched them, her hands on her hips, her chin jutted out. “You have made the last mistake you ever will, Robert. You know my father will hunt you down and take the creature back. None of you will be safe. Not even my sweet cousin Hannah.” Her lips curled into a smug smile. “Or perhaps he will let you and your family live until the culling begins just so he can watch you suffer.”

“Leave my wife out of this, Elizabeth. She has nothing to do with any of this.”

Lizzy spat out a disgusted breath. “Nothing to do with it? Who do you think rang me up to let me know you were paying me a visit today? It seems your wife, Hannah, values her own life more than yours.”

Robert stopped walking. He stood motionless at the threshold of the vestibule that led to the elevators, his gun at his side.

Anna pushed open the wide, double doors and pulled her father’s suit coat. “Come on, Dad. Worry about Mom later. Thomas …” Anna gestured with her head for Jack and Alecto to get to the elevators.

Jack continued moving backward and Alecto came with him. Anna pulled her father’s hand and he too began walking backward toward the elevators.

“Run, Anna, run,” Lizzy called. “Run while you still can.”

Jack turned the key to call up the elevator. It rumbled upward.

Robert took a few more steps backward. Lizzy had stopped her approach, apparently content that the battle was finished – if not the war. Robert turned and walked toward the elevator.

He held the rifle limply in his hand. His angular face was ashen and his eyebrows were pinched in the same way that Anna’s did when she was mad or upset. In fact, Anna looked like a blonde, female version of her dad.

Anna turned too and was nearly to the elevator when its doors opened. Jack motioned for Alecto to get in and she did. Jack followed, still struggling beneath Thomas’ weight. Jack’s legs were like noodles. He’d be relieved to put Thomas down.

Anna had just stepped into the elevator when the shots rang out.

Robert’s eyes grew wide with fear and surprise but only for an instant. He lurched forward and fell to the ground, his face pressed against the pale yellow marble now stained with his blood.

Lizzy had taken a rifle from one of the dead guards and gunned Robert down.

Anna screamed and attempted to run toward Robert. But Alecto’s quick reflexes were faster than Anna’s legs. She turned the key to close the door with one hand while she grabbed Anna by the hair with her other, yanking her back into the elevator before the doors closed.

As the doors silently slid closed, Jack stared through them at Robert Sturgis’ body splayed against the floor. The man’s eyes stared back at him, as lifeless and vacant as the stone on which he lay.

It was long past time to wash the stink of the Conexus off her. Erika rummaged through the lost-and-found bin near the office. She found a pair of jeans that were two sizes too big and had a rip in the knee, but they were better than the frayed black jeans she’d been wearing for far too long. She scrounged a belt and a very used T-shirt. The clothes were the wrong size and well worn, but they passed the sniff test. Near the bottom she found a pair of sneakers. She held them up to her foot and they looked like a close fit.