The Rabid: Rise (17 page)

“
Yes, you do! Yes, you do, Josh! My ma, the General has her, you little bastard! Where is the General? Where is the fucking General?” I drop down, planting my knee across the bullet wound in his arm. He screams and I belt him across the mouth with the pistol butt. “Only thing I want to hear out of your mouth is a location.”

His face is a dark shade of red. The muscles in his neck pulsate as he tries to push the pain down. “Please...stop...I don’t know what General you’re talking about.
I get my orders from Colonel Tanner. Me and my unit...we only arrived this morning.”

“Don’t you fucking lie to me!” I bury the silencer against his left cheek
, pressing the flesh in violently between his teeth.

“I’m not...Jesus...please! I’m not lying to you.”

His head explodes in a volcano of bone and brain matter. I recoil and almost topple over. I catch my balance with my empty hand and come up to my feet.

“
He didn’t know.”

I spin around, gun raised, sights set on Ruiz.

He laughs and holsters his weapon. “You might want to put that on the ground and lie on your belly.” He tilts his head towards Bethany.

Katia is standing behind her with a blade to her throat. Bethany’s handgun clatters to the pavement.

“Any time now, Tim,” Ruiz says, motioning towards the ground.

“That guy was just about to tell me where the General is, you
sonofabitch!” I growl. I want to drop Ruiz, right here and now. Two in the chest and one in the head. Then I remember Katia, the blades, and Bethany’s throat.

“He couldn’t have told you anything about the General because he didn’t work for the General. Now, drop the gun and get on the ground.”

“What do you mean he didn’t work for the General?”

Ruiz smiles. “All in good time. Right now is not the time. Get down.”

Reluctantly, I set my pistol on the pavement and wipe the bone and blood from my face before sprawling out on my stomach. Ruiz is gentler than I expect him to be. He doesn’t plant a knee in my back as he zip-ties my hands and blindfolds me.

Katia does the same to Bethany.

“Alright then,” Ruiz says, pulling me to my feet by an elbow, “let’s go for a ride.”

22

“So, how’d you find us?” I ask from the backseat, my hands secured behind my back, a dirty rag tied tight across my eyes.

“You know how some guys are really good at hiding?”
Ruiz says, sitting in front of me.

I don’t bother with a response.

“You’re not one of those guys.”

We’re rocking a
long at a steady pace. There doesn’t seem to be that many rough patches. My head hasn’t hit the roof and my shoulder hasn’t jammed against the door. Either Katia has improved her driving skills or the roads we’re on are much clearer than the ones I’ve gotten used to.

“If you’re going to kill us, please, spare us the theatrics and get it done,” I sigh. I can hear Bethany breathing
heavily beside me. “Hell, kill me. I want you to kill me. Just leave my sister alone. She had nothing to do with anything. She was against it. She came along because I didn’t really give her a choice.”

Ruiz laughs. “Kid, calm down or I will kill you. Trust me, if I wanted to
merc your dumb ass, I’d have done it back there in the street and spared myself some zip-ties and blindfolds. No, I need to show you something first.”

“What?”

“Well, it won’t be a surprise if I tell you.”

“Never been big on surprises.”

“Well, you don’t really have a lot of choice right now, do you?”

I can’t really argue that one.

“You know,” Ruiz says, “you should be thanking me. Katia wanted to pop both of you. Seems your betrayal, you know, breaking her heart and blowing her friend’s head off in front of her, didn’t really sit too well.”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t my intent.” I can hear Ruiz shift in his seat. Something tells me he’s looking right at me.

“What wasn’t your intent?”

Yep. I can feel
his breath on my face. Definitely looking right at me. “This. The mess. I didn’t set out to kill Bytes or cause any trouble.”

“Didn’t set out to?” He claps his hands together. “Oh, that’s rich. Tell me another one, kid?”

I shrug. “Take it how you want.”

“Let me get this straight. You didn’t want to cause a mess
, but you break into our food storage, which I wasn’t mad about, by the way, you needed some energy for the road, I get that. But then, you steal the data stick and the hard drive from our computer, you kill the only guy in our group that can fucking work that computer, and you flatten all of the tires on our vehicles. But yet, you didn’t set out to cause a mess?”

“I flattened the tires.” Bethany doesn’t sound scared. She just speaks the facts. No emotion. No fear of repercussion. Resigned to her fate.

Ruiz sniffs. “Well, I’m not even mad about that, sweetie. No doubt, your dumb ass of an older brother put you up to it. It was a pain in the ass changing them out though. Thankfully, we had spares. Gotta thank God for small things, right?”

I shouldn’
t have brought her along. Should have done this shit on my own without implicating her. Now, here we are, probably on our way to the grave. Something cold and shallow. A ditch. What’s with all of the fucking ritual, though? The hand binding and the blindfolding?

“What’s worst of all though, Tim, you know what’s worst of all?”

“Do tell, Ruiz?” It’s barely a murmur. I’m tired of the conversation. Ready to get on with it.

“You broke my
sister’s heart. I told you not to, didn’t I? I said I’d cut your head off...those were my words, right?”

It’s uncomfortable in here. I want to ask if he’ll let her pull the vehicle over. Give
Katia and me some time alone. Some time for me to explain myself to her. I’m sure if I can only explain myself to her...

“Didn’t I say that?”

“Yeah, goddamnit, I remember what you said.”

“Okay.”

He punches me in the mouth. Square in the fucking chompers. My head bounces like a diving board rebounding from the cannonball antics of a fat kid. The back of my noggin hits the seat and then my chin pops forward off my chest. I can taste copper. It’s a familiar taste at this point. Hurts like shit though. Multiple cuts have opened up on the inside and outside of my lips.

I spit blood onto the floor.

“Go ahead, spit it out. It’s not my fucking car. You’re lucky it’s only a punch in the mouth that you’re getting from me. Trust me, last night, I was of a mind to do a lot worse.”

“Yeah, I feel blessed,” I say, licking the blood from
my lips. I hear Ruiz turn back around in his seat. “So, the guy you shot, he didn’t work for the General. Are you going to tell me who he was working with?”

“Nope. Not yet. Be patient.”

“What about the drive? It’s all useless to you now without Bytes. Are you going to tie it to a balloon and send it out into the atmosphere?”

Ruiz slaps his knee in a fit of laughter. “I love it! Even bound and
blindfolded, you still find a way to draw levity from the situation.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Bethany grumbles.

“It’s that or cry.” I lap up some more fresh blood.

“I’d like to see that,
” Katia speaks for the first time.

“Me crying?” I ask, a little shocked by the sound of her voice and the content of her words.

“Yeah, you’re so good at eliciting tears from everyone else. I’d like to see if I could squeeze a few out of you.”

“Yeah, well,” I turn to face the window even though I can’t see shit, “
the day is young.”

23

Katia parks the Humvee in a gravel lot. I can hear the loose rocks yielding beneath the heavy tires. Ruiz leads us through a creaky wooden door, I can hear the hinges protest and can feel the dilapidated wood brush against my forearm. He leads us up a flight of hollow metal stairs. I can feel the grated surface catch against my boots and hear our footfalls echoing against high ceilings. The smells are damp and moldy. I hear the sound of distant laughter; men. There’s an exhaust fan going somewhere, the blades humming away in their flimsy tin housing.

“Where are we?” I ask, not expecting an answer.

“All in good time.”

“We’re here now. Seems to be as a good a time as any, wouldn’t you say?”

“No. I wouldn’t. Hence, the reason I’m not telling you. Keep moving.”

We reach the landing. Some type of catwalk. As he pulls me to the
right, the metal handrails dig into my ribs. We don’t go far. Fifty yards? Maybe. Through another door. The hinges are quiet this time, but we stop moving long enough that I can hear the handle turn. He shoves me into the room, then Bethany. I’m pulled backwards into a wooden chair. The backing is low and rigid. Not built for comfort. Built for interrogation. I hear him pulling another chair across the floor. He places it next to mine. They shove Bethany down beside me.

“Wait here. Don’t move. Katia is right outside the door
,” Ruiz says, emphasizing her name.

She’s right outside the door and she’d be happy to separate your head from your body.

The door slams and the footsteps fade.

It’
s just me and Bethany now...I think. I don’t hear anyone else, just the distant exhaust fan and the occasional bout of laughter. The damp smell of mold has all but vanished. This room, whatever it is, wherever it is, is cold. The air is thin.

“Bethany?”
My voice echoes against high ceilings.

“Yeah?” Her voice is small but steady. Not scared. Good. It’ll make this a lot easier if I’m not having to juggle her emotions.

“Just checking to see if you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Would just like to know where the hell we are.”

“I’ve got a feeling we’re about to find out.”

I stamp my feet against the floor. It’s solid. I rub
them back and forth. I can feel dust and grit sliding beneath my boots. “I think we’re in some kind of warehouse.”

“Warehouse?”

“Yeah. The wooden doors. The metal stairs. The high ceilings. The exhaust fan. The catwalk. The dirt on the floors. Definitely a warehouse.”

“
You picked all that up between here and the parking lot?”

“I can’t see.
Gotta use my other senses.”

“If we’re actually in a warehouse
, I’ll be extremely impressed.”

“I’m
gonna hold you to that.”

The door opens again. Hard this time. Slamming back on its stopper.

“Alright ladies and gents. Sorry to keep you waiting.” It’s Ruiz. “Let me just get around here and pull your blindfolds off and we can get this party started.” He taps his feet against the floor and hums as he skirts his way behind me and starts working at the knot on my blindfold with his thumbs and forefingers. “Tied this damn thing a little tighter than I meant too.” The edge of his thumbnail cuts into my scalp. I wince but don’t say anything. “Alright then, you ready?” he says, holding my blindfold in place.

“Whenever you are.”

He drops the curtain. At first I’m dazed by the wall of sunlight pouring in on me. I was right. It’s a warehouse. The entire right side of the room is floor to ceiling windows stacked in dirty squares. But, it doesn’t take long for my eyes to adjust to the room and for me to see the man standing directly across from me by the door.

The General.

I instantly come up out of my chair, an animalistic scream erupting from my throat. My fists clenched, ready to kill.

Ruiz is there to stop me. He grips
both my shoulders from behind and slams me back down into the chair.

“Jesus, the kid is eve
n more spirited than I remember,” the general laughs, crossing his arms across his chest.

He look
s different than I remember. He’s cleaned up. He’s wearing blue jeans, a gray collared shirt, and a black windbreaker.

“The General? It’s the General?” Bethany asks frantically, still blindfolded. “Where is our
mother, you bastard? Huh? Where is she?”

“Wow, you have had your hands full, haven’t you?” The General puts his hands on his hips, pushing back the windbreaker and revealing a chrome plated pistol holstered to his belt.

“I told you,” Ruiz says from above me, hands still clamped against my shoulders.

“
You’ve been working with this sonofabitch?” I jerk against him. He’s bearing down hard, putting his body weight behind it. There’s no breaking loose. “This whole time? This whole fucking time, you knew where he was?” Katia is standing behind the General in the open doorway, her shoulder propped up against the frame, unimpressed by my rage. “And you, you knew too? This whole time? You’re telling me how much you care about me and you fail to mention this? Fuck you!”

“
Hey, now, calm it down. I know you’ve got some questions, but she’s still my sister and I’ll still whoop your ass.”

“Fuck you, Ruiz. Whoop my ass.
” The cuts on the inside and outside of my lips still sting where he punched me before. What the hell, I’ll take a few more. “I’ll tell you this, if you don’t and I get loose, I swear to fucking Christ that I’ll kill all three of you.”

“Kid, calm the fuck down!” It’s the General. The power of his voice breaks through everything,
short-circuiting my brain. I stop struggling and settle into my seat. Ruiz loosens his grip. “Let us explain a few things to you, okay? If you want to go on your little one man rampage when we’re done, then so be it, we’ll just have to kill ya.”

“Where the fuck is my
momma?” I snarl.

“Just listen...okay?”

“Take her blindfold off.” I tip my head towards Bethany.

The General nods to Ruiz.

She blinks as the light attacks her eyes and then quickly sinks back in her chair at the sight of the General.

Ruiz walks around in front of us and stands beside the General,
a hand on his holster.

The General and Ruiz, side by side, I didn’t fucking see this one coming and I never would have, not in a million years.

“Now, I’m aware you’ve been referring to me as
the General
.” He looks at me with a neighborly expression, as if we’re two suburbanites shaking hands across some white picket fence, exchanging stories about which weed killer we use on our lawns.

I grit my teeth and look away. Fuck this guy. I’ve seen him work.

“This whole thing will go a lot faster if you drop the hard ass routine, kid. You want answers, then you’ve got to be willing to talk too.”

I slowly turn my eyes up
and fix him with the coldest glare I can manage. “Yeah, we didn’t really have a chance to exchange names last time. You were too busy torturing people and trying to kill me.”

The General nods. “
So I was. Though, I never tried to kill you. If I wanted to kill you, I had a thousand different chances and a hundred different ways in which I could have accomplished the task. I merely wanted answers from you. Be that as it may, I am a General...well, to be honest,
was
a General
,
is the more operative term. Just call me Norton.”

“General Norton?”

“No, just Norton will do.”

“Okay, where the fuck is my
ma, Norton?”

“We’ll get to that. Tell me about the men that attacked you
. The ones Ruiz and his people rescued you from.”

I shake my head. “Why don’t you? They were your people
. They wanted the drive.”

He smirks and holds up a finger, walking towards me
, slowly, knowingly. “You are right, they wanted the drive, but they were not my people.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit,” says Katia.

I don’t turn my eyes away from Norton. “Whose people were they then?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know for certain who their direct superior was. They no doubt reported back to the big boys upstairs; CIA or something of the sort.”

“So,
what the hell are you trying to do?”

Norton looks at me as if it should be obvious. “The same thing as Ruiz, expose the ones that were behind it
, see justice done.”

“I saw you torture and kill an unarmed man. You threatened to kill my
ma...”

“You saw me questioning one of the masterminds behind Project Lockjaw. What did you think he was trying to do
when he passed that drive off to you?”

The images race back. The desperate man passing me the cross. The cryptic message. Styles swift intervention. The scrutiny I’d been faced with. “He...he seemed scared to me. Didn’t seem like a bad guy.”

“He was a desperate guy,” Ruiz says, “we’d just raided his lab that morning and passed him over to Norton’s men. They put up a hell of a fight. The rest of his team was killed. He was trying to preserve the research.”

I’m confused now. “Preserve it? I thought you said they wanted it destroyed? If they’re so scared of being exposed, why make a copy?”

“Do you know how long it took them to get this thing off the ground and running? A long time. A lot of money. They’re aren’t going to just toss it all out the window if they don’t have to. However, if the choice is tossing it out of the window or us getting our hands on it and exposing them, well, they’d just as soon destroy it,” Ruiz says.

“Who’d you think that little air raid was
meant for that night?” Norton asks, pacing the floor.

“Styles said it was
ya’ll doing it, clearing the way for prisoner transport.”

“Styles didn’t know you or your people from Adam. He wasn’t going to divulge information to you. For all he knew
, you were CIA moles...”

“Oh, come on...”

“I’ve seen the CIA use twelve year old Taiwanese girls to extract information from the sickest and most twisted fucks on planet earth. There is no tree too high for them to climb. That little light show you saw was them targeting us. Trying to destroy their dirty little secret after they learned we’d taken possession. They had a tracker in it. How do you think those men finally pinpointed your position?”

“Took them long enough.” I give a small and nervous chuckle.

“You kept moving,” Ruiz says.

“But they finally found you
, didn’t they?” Katia sneers.

“Lucky for
you, we were following them,” Ruiz smiles.

“If there’
s a tracker, then why haven’t they busted the doors down yet?” I ask, thinking I’ve finally cornered their logic.

“Bytes disabled it,
” Ruiz answers.

“You kno
w, the guy you shot in the head?” Katia can’t help but rub salt in the wound.

I’m dizzy
with all of the information being thrown my way.

I try to shake the cobwebs away.

This is all too much to take in.

It’s bullshit.
There’s no way. It’s too crazy.

Yet
, here I am. They have the drive and I’m still alive. “So, the checkpoints. The soldiers. They’re all...”

“They were all with
the men upstairs, reporting to whomever. The government boys trying to cover their tracks.”

I look to Norton. He looks back
, raises his eyebrows, awaiting my next inquiry. “So you what? Ran away from home, so to speak?”

“Me and some of my men...splintered off, I guess you could say
.”

“Why did you split off from Ruiz? Why the two separate groups?”

Norton shrugs. “Divide and conquer, as they say. If they drop a bomb or locate one of us with a sweeper crew, it’s bad for business to have both of us in the same place at the same time. It’s the same concept they employ when keeping the President and Vice President apart. We also divide the duties. Me and my men work as intelligence and brute force, when necessary. Ruiz is PR. Builds our forces. Takes care of the people. God knows, we’re going to need people if we’re going to take on the government and win.”

“So, what, you just decided to switch jobs one day?”

Norton shakes his head. “No. Not exactly. Once the truth came out and they wanted us to help contain it, that’s when the tide turned. I wasn’t going to help them sweep it under the rug. My men and I,” Norton claps Ruiz on the shoulder, “we lost family to Lockjaw.”

“Ruiz was one of your men?”

Ruiz holds his arms out and grins. “Surprise!”

“Why the hell didn’t you just tell me?”