The Twelve Stones (29 page)

“Grab her,” Geoffrey said, his voice
de
void of emotion. “Bring her over here.”

Her eyes clenched shut as she remembered the small church her family used to go to. She lost her faith early in life, not because of some Earth
-
shattering
rev
elation
, but rather because she got caught up with boys and makeup and school dances.

Her spiritual side had taken a break since she was fifteen
,
but
now she thought to herself, praying to God, hoping for safety, wondering if
H
e would help her, even though she abandoned Him so long ago. Whatever her fate, whatever awaited her on the other side
,
she just wanted it to be over. Omar stepped forward, pulling her forcefully off the ground and towards the man who was about to kill her.

Geoffrey turned back towards Sienna, brandishing a long hypodermic needle. Her knees grew weak
.
S
he managed to get a yelp out before the powerful hands of the man dragging her over to the shiny needle slammed down on her mouth
,
silencing any further attempt to attract attention. She had a sinking feeling that it was too late for anyone to help her anyway.

Geoffrey grabbed her tightly as he slid the sharp needle into her arm. She moaned, scared of what was to come. Her body
,
previously rendered useless from the fear and adrenaline pumping through her veins
,
now began to feel light, as if she were becoming disconnected, piece by piece. Time and space
lost all meaning
to Sienna, and then, finally, her eyes closed as she slid gratefully into darkness.

Geoffrey withdrew the needle from the young woman’s arm. The sedative was a powerful one, laced with a po
tent
chemical specifically designed to fry the short term memory section of the brain. The next morning for the young lady would prove to be extremely confusing. Geoffrey didn’t care if she blamed it on aliens or an awful weekend bender
;
either way
,
it was doubtful she would be a problem. Some in his profession believed you needed to immediately kill any and all witnesses, but Geoffrey disagreed. With the right chemistry on your side, his way was just as effective, and this way, there was no need to dispose of a body, one of the most distasteful and inconvenient parts of his profession. Should she ever begin to talk to authorities about this mysterious night, Geoffrey could revisit the woman with a more permanent solution, but fortunately, as Geoffrey was certain his victims would see it, the drugs hadn’t failed him yet.

“
Find her apartment and put her back to bed
,” he said.
Omar nodded silently and picked her up easily. Geoffrey grabbed the thick arm of the mercenary
.
“Do not molest her in any other way
. D
o you understand?” Omar sighed at the needless instruction and nodded again as he jogged away, the chubby young woman flopping uselessly in
his
arms.

Geoffrey nodded in satisfaction,
then
turned
,
walking over the red Ford Mustang. Using the butt of his handgun, he smashed the window open and unlocked the door.

Brushing the broken glass
out of his way
, he sat in the driver’s seat, looking through the glove box and car.

“
Disgusting
,
” Geoffrey said to himself as he ran his hands around the car
,
searching for anything that could help him. He popped open the glove box and discovered an entry pass for JPL.

“
I’ll be taking you
,
” Geoffrey commented lightly to the pass. He turned his head, seeing Omar return without the apartment manager. “You find her place?”

“
Door was still open; I left her snoring on her bed.” Omar replied. He might not
have
be
en
happy about having to take orders from a civilian, but Omar appreciated Geoffrey’s handling of the woman. Smart operatives kept the body count low.

Geoffrey grunted in response, barely acknowledging the compliment. “Get in the trucks
.
W
e’re
going to JPL. We’ve got nerds to hunt.”

Chapter Twenty

Exiting the elevator from Scott’s hidden JPL laboratory, the two found themselves in the long hallway that wound around the massive complex. Alex and Scott hurried down the corridor towards the front door
,
where Scott had parked Alex’s stolen Suburban just outside.

“
My only problem,” Scott was saying as they walked down the corridor, “is that it’s at least six hours to SETI from here. How are we even gonna find her?”

“
Well,” Alex said as he calculated their options
,
“I’ll admit it’s not the best plan, but most important, it’ll put some real distance between Kline and us.”

Scott fumbled with the keypad with Alex waiting over his shoulder impatiently.

“
Why can’t we just open the door?” Alex asked
,
his head moving looking out at the parking
lot,
watchful for any threats.

“
If I don’t key in my code, then the locks won’t open. There’s a strict log of who enters and exits at all times.” Scott cocked his head over to the empty reception desk. “They also have us on camera right now, so say hello to Big Brother.”

Alex glanced over at the camera high in the corner. He’d seen several others just like it scattered throughout the facility.

“
Like a casino security system.” Alex said, approaching the camera to get a better look.

Scott grunted his acknowledgment
.
“It’s really only here to impress on investors that our research is safe when they first show up. No one’s allowed into the main security suite. But I’ve heard it’s awesome.”

“
You’ve never been?” Alex asked, half a smile forming on his lips
.
“I’m starting to get the feeling you’re not as big of a deal here as you’ve been telling me.”

Scott ignored the dig. The keypad flashed red as he keyed in his code for the fourth time. It wasn’t working
;
something was wrong. Scott knew he had some fat fingers that got in the way of keying out sometimes, but he’d never punched his code in wrong four times before.

“
What’s the problem
,
Scott?” Alex walked over, impatient from the holdup.

“
Umm...” Scott’s face fell into confusion
.
“I don’t know what the problem is. I’m keying in my code, but the pad isn’t accepting it. But it only does that if the system is in lockdown, and that wouldn’t happen unless…” Scott trailed off as he sprinted towards a monitor set into the wall.
As he pushed
a section of the wall directly below the security monitor, a tray sprung out from the interior of the wall, complete with keyboard and display information on the various security cameras around the complex.

“
What’s wrong?” Alex asked, alarmed.

Scott didn’t answer, only scanning each camera on the video feed in front of him, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Scott was flipping through the various channels and angles so quickly that Alex almost missed it. He cried out the moment he saw the parking lot.

“
Right there!” He pointed excitedly to a monitor in the lower right hand corner
.
“You see that?”

Scott flipped back, and the picture became clear. Two black Suburbans, the engines idling. Scott looked up at Alex with concern.

“
Oh my God…” Scott moaned. His thoughts quickly went to Carl, the front gate security guard. Scott’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he called up the front gate cameras.

They were too late. Carl’s body lay slumped in the chair, bleeding from three distinct holes in his chest.

Scott glanced at Alex
,
his friend’s face already confirming the answer to his question. “Your friends from the desert?”

Alex grabbed his pistol from the inside of his jacket
,
racking the slide back
and
loading a bullet into the main chamber
. That was answer enough.

“
Can you help him?” Scott asked desperately.

Alex shook his head, “Unless I can get to him while he’s still alive
,
or if he dies within the last few minutes of me getting to him…” He shook his head
.
“There’s nothing I can do.”

“Well
,
buddy,” Scott said, his voice betraying how uneasy he felt. “I did the whole sciencey thing, it’s your turn to kick ass. What do we do now?”

Alex thought
through
their options. “Front lobby’s no good,” Alex said, almost to himself. “Is there a back way out?”

“
Sure, there’s an emergency exit over that way,” Scott said, pointing down the hallway opposite from where they had come from, “but there’s no guarantee…yah!” Scott yelled as Alex grabbed his shirt collar and began dragging him with him down the hall.

Scott collected himself and began jogging alongside Alex. In his entire life, Scott had never seen his friend’s face like this before. Alex’s jaw was set in grim determination, his eyes darting around the complex
,
constantly watching his environment for any threats. This was a different man than the one he
had
known growing up, Scott realized. This was who Alex had been for the last six years.

“
You don’t have another one of those
,
do you?” Scott said
,
pointing to Alex’s pistol. “I seem to have forgotten mine.”

“
Next time you want a gun,” Alex replied as they jogged down the hallway towards the bright red emergency exit sign, “bring your own.”

“
I’ll keep that in mind.” The pair rounded a corner
.
Scott
,
puffing hard, yelled at his friend, “You know
,
I was in the middle of a nice dream that involved a lovely and trusting Brazilian stewardess.”

“
A brazilian? That sounds
like
waaay too
much
for you to handle...” Alex retorted
as
the pair finally
reach
ed
the end of the hallway
.

“You’re hysteric
al.” Scott replied
.

T
he emergency exit stood
ahead
, the bright red light a shining beacon of safety for the two men fleeing for their lives. “I’ll be sure to keep your sleeping schedule in mind next time I’m the target of a maniacal businessman and his evil henchmen.”

Scott stopped and leaned over, panting as they reached the end of the corridor
.
“Fair trade,” he wheezed. He needed to get back to the gym.

Alex paused, putting his back to the door, his pistol high and ready for any target that presented itself. Counting down in his head, he lowered his body and pushed the emergency door open.

Immediately, gunfire erupted around their profiles
.
W
ith only a moment to realize a trap had been sprung on them
,
Alex turned and shoved Scott back inside the hallways of JPL, closing the emergency exit behind him.

Scott hardly had enough time to even react to what happened. For a moment, he was outside with Alex. Then something had whipped past his ear with a hot angry buzz, and before he knew it, Alex had tossed him back inside
and slammed the door.

“
Dammit
,
Alex!” Scott yelled at the door. His answer was a hail of bullets, pinging loudly against the solid metal door
and
peppering it with dents. Scott ducked, falling to the ground as he covered his head.

As Scott scooted himself across the floor
,
away from the emergency exit, he moved towards the monitors and looked at what Alex was facing. There were too many of them, Scott was sure. Alex would need his help. But how? What could he do? Suddenly, Scott was struck with inspiration.

“
I’m coming
,
buddy!
H
old on!” Scott shouted to the closed emergency door. He turned and began sprinting back towards his lab. Alex might have the power to heal instantaneously, but Scott wasn’t about to leave him to fend for himself.