Winter's Wrath: Sacrifice (Winter's Saga #3) (34 page)

“He said he mostly wanted Evan because he was given the most advanced version of the serum.  That he just wanted you ‘home.’  His word.”

“Then what would he do with the eggs and sperm?” Theo asked.

“He said if he had you three he would be too busy figuring out the original serum from your blood to worry about creating a ‘new generation of thoroughbred metahuman embryos.’ Again, his words.”

“That’s some
messed
up logic,” Slider blurted, then looked around the room apologetically.  “Sorry, I just—wow—it’s nasty enough that the Facility keeps getting new recruits every month.  These are just kids who fell into the wrong part of the system, like we did.  But I didn’t know he tested on babies, unborn babies?”  Slider was shaking his head, eye wide. 

“How do we know he hasn’t already done what he was threatening to do?” Evan asked the room.

“What do you mean?” Alik asked.

“I mean, he’s obviously not a guy with integrity.  How do we know he hasn’t already caused the conception?  For all we know, there are two-month-old embryos in an artificial womb somewhere in the Facility.”  Evan’s quick scientific mind raced with the possibilities. 

Meg doubled over feeling as if she was going to throw up for sure. 

“Let’s not think that just yet.  We have a lot of work to do, and the only way we can do it is one step at a time.”  Theo had walked up to put a comforting arm around Margo, who was quieter now, though still shaking with silent tears.  “I’m going to make a phone call to Greg Burns,” Theo said, worry lines deeply etched in his brow.

“Who’s Greg Burns?” Gavil asked.

“He’s a friend.  We go way back.  He also happens to be a former cop, now working for US Homeland Security.   He knows some of the story, but I’ll need to get him up to speed.  Maybe he can help.” Theo nodded to the room, excusing himself, as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

“Well, as far as I’m concerned, this new information just eliminated the option to run and hide.  The longer we give him, the more likely he’ll act on his threats.”  Alik pulled out the maps they’d drawn and opened the plans they’d sketched so far. 

“Creed what can you tell us about the regular deliveries to the Facility?  We were thinking we could gain access that way.”

Still holding one of Meg’s hands, Creed turned to Alik and blinked hard, trying to clear his cluttered thoughts to focus.  “From the window of the room I was assigned at the
Research
Hospital
, I could see the commissary.  I was monitored like clockwork, so I started to notice a pattern of delivery trucks coming to unload at 8:15 every Monday and Thursday night.  Local time, of course.  The truck would make a beeping sound as it moved in reverse.  I remember I was usually reading at my desk and would get distracted by the sound.  I’d look out my window and watch it ease into position.  I could nearly set my watch by it.  They usually stayed for an hour, and I’d hear the engine crank on again at about 9:15 as they’d pull away from the loading dock and drive off.”

“Now that’s something we can use,” Alik grinned, ever the optimist.

“Do you know what the truck looked like?” Evan asked, pulling out a pad of paper and handing it to Creed.  “Draw it.”

“I’m no artist but,” his hands moved easily across the paper and before long, he’d drawn a side view of a truck and its twenty-six foot trailer.  “It’s all white except for one red stripe down each side that has the phrase in German, ‘
Zuverlässiger Transport
’
imbedded in the line.”

His hands drew what he was saying making the image even more helpful.

“What does that mean?”

“It translates to Reliable Transport.  They must be a local company,” Gavil offered

Evan looked to Alik.  The brothers
’
silent exchange end
ed
with Alik standing abruptly.  “I’ll get my laptop.  Maybe I can find the company online.”

“Okay,” Margo walked over to them having patted her face dry of tears.  “So let’s assume we can sneak onto a truck and get into the compound.  Then what?” 

Meg watched her mother lift her beautiful human chin with determination.  Her sharp eyes and brilliant mind had shifted to soldier mode, and Meg was thankful for it.  Truth be told, she envied her mother’s ability to do that.  She wished she could compartmentalize her emotions to deal with them when it was appropriate and not feel so ruled by them all the time. 

Meg listened to people around her plot and plan.  After three hours, several internet searches, one interesting conversation with Greg Burns and a lot of notes, they had a plan.  Well, as much a plan as was going to happen that night. 

Each of them was assigned specific tasks so they could accomplish all they needed to do in this short period.  Meg looked around the room at the people willing to fight to the death alongside her and felt an overwhelming sense of strength in their unity. 

This time, they were going to put Williams on the defensive.  All of them were sick of running, hiding and living in fear.  He crossed too many lines. 

And now,
Meg thought
.  He’s
holding my unborn children hostage?  No.  I refuse to let him do that to me or them.  It was time to end him.
 

The tentative plans started to take a more defined shape as they worked.  Germany was seven hours ahead of Dallas, Texas time, so it was 7pm Tuesday here, 2am Wednesday there.

They had forty-two hours. 

Chapter
36
  Filling in the Blanks

The household
retired to their rooms
after dinner, most with the intent to study their part of the plan—committing it to memory.  They were planning to meet again at 9pm to be sure no one had questions that had come up during their study.

For now, the house was still, but Meg’s mind was racing.  

Though she was supposed to be committing everyone’s part in the plan to memory right down to the exact minute, all she could think about was Creed.  The plan was intricate.  It depended on everyone
being
exactly where they should be at the exact
right
time—it was almost like a dance. 

The assassination of Williams was like an elaborate choreographed dance among the eight meta players and though Meg felt desperate to be exactly where and when the plan dictated, her emotions kept overriding her thoughts and slipping back to the way Creed felt in her arms.

She was sitting on her bed, notes and diagrams spread out, wishing like hell she had her brother’s eidetic memory. 

Groaning, she rubbed her stressed eyes and sat up straighter, stretching her back.  Maze yawned from his spot beside her.  Deciding the stretch felt too good to stop there, she crawled off her bed and stood, arms reaching high above her.  She tried to focus on the plan again, forcing her highly distractible brain to walk through every step from memory.  She leaned over and put her nose to her knees, wrapping her hands around her calves to revel in the pull of muscles.  Standing abruptly, she flipped upside-down into a perfect hand-stand. 

Maze decided at that very moment to hop down off the chair and join in what looked like playtime to him.  He started by slobbering all over Meg’s face then jumped up and knocked her backward so he could wrestle properly.  “Get off me, you crazy coyote!”  Meg giggled only halfheartedly shooing her best friend away.

A firm knock sounded at her door.  Still smiling at her goofy canine, she popped up and turned the knob without thinking about who could be on the other side.

Creed stood, hands held behind his back, legs spread slightly in the soldier’s standard ‘at rest’ position.  Weird.

“Hi.  Is everything okay?” Meg watched him carefully, trying to read his intentions.

He stopped staring straight ahead at nothing and allowed his eyes to look down at her briefly before returning to his soldier’s stare.  “I was making rounds, making sure the house was secure, when I heard some suspicious noises coming from your room.  I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

Meg tried not to laugh at him.  He was so stiff and nervous.  Bless his heart!

“You were making rounds?”  She bit her lip hoping he wouldn’t hear the smile in her voice, because his eyes still were looking straight ahead a foot above her.

“Yes.  I don’t want us caught off guard.”

“Were there any other room
s
where you heard unidentified noises?”  Meg crossed her arms, trying to sound serious.

“Yes, Alik’s.”

“And did you knock on his door to check on him, too?”

Creed pursed his lips together, his jaw working.

She couldn’t hold her giggles in any longer.

His eyes darted down to look at the girl, brows knitted in consternation at her laughter.

“I can see you’re fine.  Good night, miss.”  Creed spun on his heel and started down the hall.

“Wait, Creed.  I’m sorry.  Come back here.”  She hurried after him and reached out to touch his arm.

He stood stone still, his back still to her, eyes locked on her small hand on his arm for a moment before turning around.

“Thank you for checking on me.”  She smiled up at him, trying to ease his anxiousness.  “The noise you heard was Maze toppling me from a handstand.  He just decided he wanted to wrestle.”  She shrugged innocently.

He nodded once and started to turn away again, though the look in his eyes told her he wanted to stay.

“Hey, if you have a minute, I would like to talk to you.  That is, if you’re done making your rounds.”  She watched his pupils dilate at her words.

“Everything’s secure, for now.”  He nodded.

Meg reached out again, this time purposefully taking his hand in hers and led him down the hall to the living room.  She didn’t let go until they were seated on a comfy sofa for two.  Meg watched him sit stiffly, which is pretty hard to do in these couches.  They were so
plush;
they nearly forced everyone to melt back into their folds.  As for Meg, she curled her left leg under herself and snuggled into the corner being sure to angle herself to face the metasoldier.

Feeling a moment of unease, she looked down at the edge of the pajama shorts she wore
and
absently roll
ed
the hem with deft fingers. 

The room was silent for too long. 

Meg couldn’t stand it anymore. 

Still not sure what she wanted to say or ask, she just let her heart talk.

“
We met for the first time la
te one autumn night
in
Kansas.  Mom was in the hospital recovering from being beaten by Williams and his thugs, and my brothers and I were keeping vigil in her
hospital
room.  I had stepped outside to take Maze for a walk.  You stepped out of the shadows to talk to me.”  Meg smiled at the memory. 

“But I was so scared of you.  We had every reason to be wary of strangers with Williams hunting us.  I wouldn’t even tell you my name.” She laughed at the memory.  “The next day we ran into each other at the hospital’s cafeteria.  You bought breakfast for my family that morning and walked me to the elevator.”

Creed listened intently, desperate to know everything about his lost memories of this girl.

“We agreed to meet at noon that day,” she frowned, remembering, “but that never happened.  We went into hiding that day.”  She said simply, not wanting to tell him it was because of his attempt at her mother’s life that forced them to run.

“The next time I saw you
it
was five months later in Hawaii.  I had been dosed with a mutant malaria virus and was at death’s door for a week.  During that time, you helped my family find a way to cure me.  You chose to help us and turned away from Williams, defying his orders.  You even used yourself as a human shield to protect me.”  Meg looked up at Creed’s handsome face.  “You took two bullets for me that night.” 

Creed stared at his hands, deep in thought.

“When I woke from the coma, we realized the illness had triggered my evolution.”

He looked up, a question on his lips.  “You mentioned your evolution before.  What exactly is it?”

“Alik, Evan and I were given a different serum than the metahumans who came after us.  We were the original formula.  Something was different about that formula.  It not only heightened our natural abilities, but Evan and Paulie decoded something else.  It was a countdown.  At first, we thought the countdown was to our deaths, but we found out differently.  It was a countdown to a form of rebirth.”

“Have Alik and Evan evolved, too?”

“No, not yet, but it could happen at any time, really.  Alik, being older, will probably change first.”

“I was told I was exposed to the serum at Dr. St. Paul’s lab.  Was that the same serum you were given?”  Creed asked, worry in his eyes.

“Yes, or at least as close as it could be.  Evan made those vials of the Infinite serum based on his own blood.  He was given the most advanced version of the serum,”
s
he shrugged.   “So, yeah, you were exposed to it.  Have you noticed a difference in yourself?”