The Tenth Legion (Book 6, Progeny of Evolution) (24 page)

Lorna winced
inwardly, but then became angry. “Get out, Bobby.”

After Bobby
left, Lorna wondered about his change of personality. Underneath
all of the measured affection and good cheer toward the family, and
Ed in particular, lurked another person. Did the rest of them know
about this dark side, or did they remain in denial? Right then, she
couldn’t solve his problem or even provide an answer. She shrugged,
returning to work.

The incomplete
draft of the email Bobby had interrupted still glowed on the
screen. With her train of thought broken, she saved it, next
calling up the latest on the X-10 investigation. News footage of
the warehouse where Lorna had photographed the bulletin board came
up. Military vehicles surrounded the building. There’d been a fire
fight when S.W.A.T. teams tried to carry out a search warrant. They
besieged the place until two companies of the Regional Guard
arrived from the Ocala barracks with tanks, and concluded the
matter in short order.

“The leader of
the North American X-10, Jeremiah Winston, has been identified
among the twenty-six X-10 members killed in the raid,” the tiny
image of the reporter on the monitor said. “Sources close to the
investigation say officers of the General Electronics Corporation
are linked to the release of the agent, which is over
ninety-percent fatal to The Others.”

A soft knock
tapped on the door, still closed after Bobby’s heated departure.
Ethan stepped in. “How are you feeling?” he asked. In a form of
greeting, everyone in the compound had fallen into the habit of
inquiring that of each other.

“Okay. What
about you?”

“Same. I
guess. Four more came down with the virus in the past hour.”

“There’s some
good news. Jeremiah Winston’s death is confirmed.”

“The incident
doesn’t cure anyone or resurrect the dead,” Ethan somberly reminded
her.

“The other
good news is General Electronics is looking pretty guilty right
now. We need to have Ed use whatever influence he has to keep the
authorities on task with the investigation and prosecution. General
Electronics is more powerful than any government. Coven
International may have to keep the pot stirred.”

“I think he
understands.”

* * * *

That
night, Lorna dreamed about Cithara. The priestess waved a parchment
in front of her face.
“The cure is in you.”
She repeated the statement several times Lorna
woke up with her head spinning. The clock said four am. Throwing on
a robe, she decided to go for a walk.

The building
surrounded a domed atrium, like a square doughnut. A swimming pool
occupied the center of the open space, fenced, with the gates
locked and lights turned off for the night. The hum of the
filtration pump dominated the otherwise quiet scene. Even the
corporation obeyed utility restrictions. Paying top premiums kept
the pool filter working, but still required all lights except those
essential for security to be off after midnight.

A single
orange lamp atop a pole covered the atrium in a boll of weak amber
light up to about the third story. Above that, the illumination
thinned out to nothing, leaving a clear, moonless, black sky. The
shadowed areas on the objects in the atrium became patches of
black, the walls rising up on all sides in a bizarre Halloween
coloring of black windows in rows on the orange facing.

Lorna sat on a
metal bench underneath a live oak. The cold from the iron seeped
through the robe’s thick quilt. While trying to interpret the
dream, she rubbed back and forth on the bench seat to warm it up.
In the distance, the flaring ember of someone drawing on a
cigarette lit up the darkness surrounding the adjacent bench.
Wondering who else couldn’t sleep, she walked toward the
disembodied glow.

“Well, hello.”
Bobby spoke from the darkness in the pleasant voice so much more
familiar and different from the crazy one.

“Hello,
yourself.” She stopped just outside of the glow, illuminated by the
small circle of orange from Bobby’s cigarette. “I didn’t know you
smoked.”

Pulling
another drag, he said, “On rare occasions. Usually while beating
myself up after doing something stupid.”

“Is that an
apology you’re trying to make?”

Exhaling with
a deep whoosh of humid tobacco smoke, he said, “Yes, I guess so. I
was going to look you up in the morning, but now’s as good a time
as any. I acted very badly today. I’m so sorry.” He dropped the
cigarette on the sidewalk, and a black shoe emerged from under the
bench to crush it. “All I can say is the strain of all that’s been
going on got to me.”

“I guess I can
understand.” They walked in the direction of her apartment.

“Will you
forgive me?” His eyes implored, like the repentant sinner right
before the preacher’s hand presses on his forehead to submerge his
body backward into the stream that washes all things clean.

No question,
the guy oozed charm. What did Ed say? Bobby could sell ice to
Eskimos. “Yeah, sure.” She tried to sound like it was no big
deal.

Accompanying
her to the elevator, he cupped her waist in the enticing grip of
his long fingers, holding the door open to usher her in. When they
arrived at her floor, he stepped out with her. “Let me walk you to
your door,” he said. “No tricks, I promise.”

If he got out
of line, a picture of her morphing into something almost seven feet
tall flashed in her mind. He’d be dead before hitting the floor.
“Okay but remember, no tricks.” Arriving at the door, she inserted
the key and turned the knob. With a hand on the doorknob, she faced
him. “Well, I guess here’s where we say good night.”

“In more ways
than you know, bitch,” Bobby uttered before he touched the stun gun
to her arm.

* * * *

Upon
awakening, she realized several hours had passed. The first
crepuscular rays of dawn slid in through the apartment windows.
Bobby had dimmed the lights, and sat on the couch in her living
room off to the side, just inside her field of vision. Unable to
turn her head, she suspected from the uncomfortable draft blowing
far up her thighs, Bobby had stripped her naked. He’d bound her
feet to a noose around her neck working back into the rest of the
knots. Several pillows, placed under her abdomen lifted her hips
into the air.

“What are you
doing, Bobby?” she asked, trying to remain calm, while fighting the
nibble of panic on the fringes of her mind.

“Why, I’m
going to screw your brains out, of course. Then, who knows?” The
arrogance contained in his snicker chilled her to the core.

Lorna pulled
against the ropes, which succeeded in tightening the noose. When
taking a breath, the air dragged through her wind pipe. “Not a good
idea,” Bobby counseled. “The more you struggle, the tighter the
stranglehold gets, something Clarisse learned the hard way.”

“Clarisse?
Your girlfriend? What did you do?”

“She’s dead. I
had to test the knots on someone. After the little set-to between
you and me this afternoon, I decided the time had come to make my
move. She stood in the way.”

From the
corner of Lorna’s eye, an ominous grin flickered into view.

“But why do
all this? You have everything.”

He shifted
position on the couch, providing a better view of her exposed
parts. Not only the view, but the conversation aroused him. “Do you
have any idea what it’s like to be part of a family where you live
with the certainty death comes for you while everyone else
lives…well…forever?”

“Your father
understood. Your brothers did, too.”

“Oh, yeah. A
little more quality time with good old Dad doesn’t make up for
shit, not to mention spending every day seeing the pity in their
eyes for the poor little hybrid. I have to say the whole thing
really sucks.”

“Your aunt and
uncle don’t see it that way. They’re content with their lives.”

“They’re
damned fools!” Enraged, Bobby lurched to his feet. Lorna winced;
afraid he might cinch up the noose.

But he didn’t.
After a minute, he sat back down.

He doesn’t
want this to end quickly.

Lorna
considered morphing, but the ropes were too thick to burst. When
her limbs expanded, the bindings would sever the major blood
vessels. She’d bleed out before getting free.

“Clarisse
begged for her life. She died quite badly,” Bobby said. “You seem
to be cut from tougher cloth. I don’t picture making you beg will
be easy.” Then he crouched down low. Her skin crawled when his lips
brushed her ear. “But before I’m finished, you will.” Hot, humid
breath accompanied the harsh whisper. “You good-for-nothing lycan
bitch, by God, you will!”

Lorna closed
her eyes tightly, as if that could somehow make him go away.

“My contacts
at General Electronics were right,” Bobby continued. “They
predicted everyone would jump at the idea to gather in one place.”
He burst into a smile. “And guess what? It worked.”

Lorna perked
up. “What do you mean?”

Once
again, he sprang upright. Pointing to his chest with a thumb. “I’m
the
Viper at
the breast of Salvation.
You know, the one in the prophecy. Damned proud of it,
too.”

“
You
introduced
the virus?”

“Yes.”
Roughly, he pulled her hair back, uncovering the ear underneath.
“When they explained the wonderful results the disease could
produce among woofers, how could I refuse?”

“How could you
do this to your own family?”

“Shut up,
bitch. I have no family.” Tightening cords around her neck squeezed
off the rest of her statement. Details of the room began to fade,
and she became lightheaded, on the way to passing out.

Cithara
protect me! It cannot end this way.

Have
f
orbearance,
child. Pretend to surrender. Succor comes.

Encouraged by
her inner voice, Lorna took a different tack. “So what are you
waiting for? Are we going to talk all night, or have a little
fun?”

That stopped
him for a moment. Deliberately, he surveyed her exposed, helpless
loins and shed his clothes below the waist. “See this.” He moved
close, inches from her face. In his hand rested a dark,
blood-filled penis, reeking of his malevolent odor. “In a minute,
this will be in you up to your eye sockets.”

Bobby walked
behind. Lorna heard a squirt, followed by the rub of lotion on
flesh. Then he approached with slow, deliberate footsteps.
Clenching her eyes shut, she braced for his intrusion.

The apartment
entry door slammed open. “What are you doing, brother?” Ethan cried
out.

A thrill swept
through Lorna. The Marines had landed.

“Stand back,
sir.” A security guard moved Bobby away from Lorna. Ethan cut the
bindings and covered her with a blanket.

“She wanted to
do this,” Bobby shouted in a cracking voice. “The bondage was all
her idea.”

“He murdered
Clarisse,” Lorna said.

By then, the
security guard had handcuffed Bobby. “Take him out. Hold him in the
isolation laboratory until I arrive,” Ethan said. Then he turned to
Lorna. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, but how
did you know?”

“A voice, a
woman’s voice, I think, woke me from a sound sleep. I don’t
remember the exact words just that you were in grave danger. So I
rousted the security teams. While they searched, I came here.” He
cut her bindings. “I suppose being an ESP research candidate has to
count for something.”

Rubbing the
circulation back into her wrists, the ramifications of Ethan’s
explanation dawned on her. Did the rickety and inconsistent link
between Cithara’s world and here somehow permit connection with
Ethan? During the session in Doctor Montana’s office, she said he
had potential for a breakthrough.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

T
he next
morning, Ed received the news about Bobby’s betrayal, while the
medical staff processed Clarisse’s body.

“Where is he
now?” asked the rubicund head in the monitor.

“We have him
in an isolation laboratory under guard,” Ethan answered.

“I’ll want to
speak with him later.” Ed’s image turned to Lorna. “It seems I owe
you an apology. Please understand the difficulty of accepting a
child’s betrayal.”

“I do.”

“Miriam and I
studied all accounts of my grandparent’s experience with Aunt
Cassie and did everything to learn from the experience. We
encouraged Bobby to accept his nature. We treated our time with him
special because there was less. His brothers understood. We
believed we’d avoided the mistakes made with my aunt.”

“Your
conscience should be clear. You did everything reasonable in his
upbringing.”

“He said
that?”

“No. I did. I
know a thing or two about not fitting in. Everyone bent over
backward to make the best of a situation that was impossible to
change. He had no appreciation for anyone’s efforts.”

“You’re right,
of course.”

To see Ed so
crestfallen devastated Lorna. This once proud, confident giant of a
man seemed to be staggering, like a punch-drunk boxer. Even if he
dumped her for the blonde hussy, she’d miss him dearly. There might
be other men in her future, even marriage and children, but after
Ed, anyone she allowed to enter her heart would be a compromise.
“We need to get back on track. There’s a cure for this, and we can
find it.”

“Is that your
priestess speaking?” he asked wearily.

“Both of us,
actually. Now, rally the troops on your end, while Ethan and I do
our job here.”

Ed
straightened up to a posture that passed for attention. “Aye-aye,
Captain,” he said with a casual salute, showing the first real
smile she’d seen cross his face in weeks.