INCURSION: Knightmare (Knight's Bane Trilogy Book 1) Page 15

  DOC AND BOOMER were again interviewing the medical examiner as he sorted through the remains from the prior night's attack. The pile of unidentifiable parts grew steadily, and the bodies that were pieced together were incomplete.

  The explosives expert wandered around the lab and offices while her partner kept the coroner busy with questions and suggestions. Doc noticed that the local doctor was getting more and more distracted as her partner passed around the labs. She wondered if it was a territorial thing or if the doctor had something to hide. She looked for any signs that the doctor was a familiar for a vampire, but there was nothing outwardly noticeable.

  The chatter of the other team members' conversations was background noise for the team's medic, and she was only half-listening to the transmissions. She wanted to see if this coroner caught the unusual wounds or if he was incompetent. So far, he had passed over the wounds, but he had not made any big deal out of them. So either he must be incompetent or he is dirty.

  Boomer stormed back into the labs from the direction of the offices. "Did you hear that? We need to go. They will want us to meet them at the ops center. They may need your help."

  Doc started to respond, but her team leader's voice spoke in her ear. "All team. Meet at ops center immediately. Six out."

  Boomer keyed her mic. "Copy, Six. Beta Team en route. Do you require medical?"

  "Negative," Six replied. "New critical intel."

  "Copy, Six. On our way." Boomer looked at her partner. "Time to go."

  Doc nodded and followed her partner out of the labs and out of the hospital. They walked across the parking lot and arrived barely before the War Wagon slammed to a halt, rocking on its formidable springs.

  Six climbed out of the truck and said, "Conference room. One minute."

  Forty-eight seconds later, the team was assembled in the conference room. The lead agent filled them in on the details of the ambush

  "This means that we are fighting something more than a couple newbies. That's at least eight vampires, including the one that Spooky nearly blew up. I've talked to Agent Smith, and he is tasking greater resources our way. Officially, our mission has been upgraded to Ultra-Red. Any recommendations?"

  At that moment, there was a knock on the conference room door. Opening the door, Six found a pale young female deputy almost in tears. She choked out, "There's been another attack... just now. It's at one of our deputy's houses. You can follow me."

  Six looked at the team. They were already standing and heading toward the door. "Ok, deputy. We'll be right behind you. Just wait for us to mount up."

  Thirty seconds later, the War Wagon was loaded and following behind the deputy's patrol car in a mad dash across town. Three minutes later, the War Wagon came to a halt on a residential block. Multiple cruisers and ambulances lined the road.

  As the team climbed out of the truck, two black Chevy Suburbans squealed to a stop. Suddenly eight men wearing green tactical armor and carrying automatic weapons piled out of the new trucks. God recognized his former team. He leaned over to Six and pointed, "HRT is here. You better step up if you want to stop them from taking over," the sniper recommended.

  The lead DHS agent told the rest of the team to enter the house where the attack had occurred and to begin the investigation while he went to talk to the HRT commander. As he walked, he noticed a distraught young deputy being consoled by his peers. He paused momentarily when he realized it was same deputy that had been their guide around town the day before. Nice kid. Shame. What was his name, Fuller? Fulton?

  He stepped up to the commander of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team and flashed his badge. "Special Agent Burt Holstein, Homeland Security. Did you get the message from Washington? We're primary on this case."

  The commander looked at him coldly before he replied, "Believe me, I got the memo." The commander's gravely voice sounded harsh to the DHS agent's ears. "Where do you want us?"

  Six put up a hand to shake the commander's hand. The HRT commander accepted Six's handshake and the DHS team leader spoke, "We're going to secure the scene. Begin canvassing the neighborhood. This is supposed to be real fresh. It is possible that the bad guys are still in the area. We believe they're armed with blades and high on a new PCP variant."

  The commander dispersed his men. When the senior DHS agent turned to walk toward the house, his radio sounded in his ear, "Six, God. House is clear. It's a freakin' slaughterhouse in here. Looks like a trail out the back."

  Six keyed his mike as he quickened his pace. "Copy, God. On my way. Spooky, get our UAV up and out looking for cold spots. Let's see if this is more vamps."

  Moving in through the front door, Six crashed to a halt. Someone had splashed what appeared to be dark red paint all over the inside of the living room. The walls and furniture were covered with the mess. The team leader surveyed the room and saw a crime scene technician's flag by a hunk of meat that looked like it could be part of an arm. And then Six realized the "paint" around him was the drying and congealing blood of the victims. The scene at the Governments Center had rattled him, but this was even worse. This attack was more vicious, more terrible, and there seemed to be fewer body parts lying around.

  Walking through the front room, he joined the rest of his team in the kitchen. Looking around, he realized that this calm, cool, professional fire team was on the verge of breaking down. They had all seen horrific death before, but this was a level they had never encountered. He saw fear and pain in the eyes around him, and he wondered what they saw in his.

  "Ok, team. What do we know?" The team leader's voice was coarse.

  God spoke first. "Looks like there were at least two creatures. The wife was in the living room; there are two little girls upstairs. At least what little remains of them. The deputy was the first on the scene at his own house. He didn't see anything other than the slaughter before he called for backup. Other members of his department found the girls upstairs."

  Six turned to his team priest. "This doesn't look like the vampire scenes we've found before. Is this normal, or is this another creature?"

  Doc shook her head, fighting to hold back her tears for the family. She choked out her words, "If I had to guess, I'd say this was zombie. But they would still be here. They are actually pretty slow in real life. Messy and voracious, but slow."

  Six looked around and swore. "Whatever they are, they die tonight. Ghost, can you follow their trail?"

  Ghost looked at the back door and shrugged. "I think so."

  Six nodded and keyed his radio. "Spooky, this is Six. Any sign of creatures?"

  "Negative, boss," the electronics specialist was quick to respond.

  The lead agent pointed to the door and continued, "Alright. Let's head out. Ghost, you're up."

  The tall, lanky agent led the way out of the back door of the house, following blood trails left behind by the other creatures. As they walked out the back, Ghost could see the trail of blood and guts leading them to the left and over a fence. The esoteric specialist led the way, and the rest of the team followed, rifles ready. Doc had a little trouble scaling the short fence and brought up the rear.

  As they approached the house next to the crime scene, they all heard screaming and growls from the house just over the next fence. The team turned to Six, and he quickly made a decision. "God, Ghost, and Boomer, you are Team 'B' on the front door. I'll bring Heavy and Doc with me through the back. Team B, you come through when you hear the gunfire. Watch the exits. Go. Go. Go!"

  God, Ghost, and Boomer raced around the front of the house, just two houses south of the original scene. Six, Heavy, and Doc ran toward the screened-in back porch of the target house. As they ran, the lead agent keyed his radio. "Spooky. Activity in the house two south of the scene. Focus the UAV here."

  As Six heard the confirmation from Spooky, the trio slammed through the back door to the porch. The screams inside faded to a gurgle as Six paused at the threshold of the back door. He jerked his head to Heavy, and the large man raised his
enormous boot. A single kick tore the door jamb off the wall, and Six rushed through with his rifle raised. The small kitchen was strewn with overturned furniture and ripped open cabinets, but the sounds were coming from the room ahead.

  As he moved through the doorway, the lead agent saw two creatures ravenously ripping an older man and woman apart with their bare hands. The creatures used to be human, but no trace of humanity remained. Their pale gray skin had a rough texture, and was drawn tight where it was visible. The ripped and shredded remains of clothing hung loosely from their gaunt frames. Their fingers ended in long, dagger-like claws, and rows of sharpened teeth filled mouths that seemed to open wider than was possible. Coal black eyes stared from hollow faces at their prey.

  The blood and carnage were sprayed everywhere in the feeding frenzy. Six didn't hesitate. He pulled the trigger, aiming at the creature closest to him. Round after round hit the creature, and it jerked from each impact. Six noticed very quickly that the creature wasn't reacting to the silver bullets. Even as it howled in pain, it stayed on its feet. At his left elbow, Heavy stepped up and began stroking the trigger on his machine gun. The creature jerked some more as the bursts all landed on target—the creature's chest. With a final burst that climbed its way up to the creature's head, the final two rounds blew open the top half of the creature's head.

  When they heard Six's team burst through the door, God raised a booted foot and kicked the front door. It shuddered but remained shut. Rearing back again with all of his might, he kicked the door just below the knob. The second kick sent the door crashing inward on its hinges.

  Boomer stepped into the front hallway of the small house. Pivoting left, she had less than a second to realize that there was a creature coming at her, and that it was dripping with gore. Instead of raising her shotgun to her shoulder, she simply swiveled and pulled the trigger, firing the big 12GA from her hip. She was too close to miss.

  The large silver and wooden slug entered creature's diaphragm. The shot was a powerful enough blow that the creature stopped its lunge. As the creature howled in rage and pain, the young woman racked the pump on her scattergun, and pulled the trigger again. And again. The third shot opened a very large hole in its chest, dissolving the heart and the edges of the lungs into a fine spray of black ichor. The creature fell backwards in shock, and Boomer raised the Mossburg to her shoulder and stroked the trigger, sending the one-inch diameter piece of silver and wood through the front of the skull. The kinetic energy from the slug removed the entire back half of the head, and the corpse slumped over.

  God and Ghost rushed past, and the sniper called out, "Coming into the room."

  The demolitions specialist rejoined the rest of her team just as Six told his team, "Heavy, take the front door. God, take the back. HRT and SWAT will be coming quickly at the screams and gunfire. DO NOT let them see the bodies. Keep them outside. Boomer, help me clear the rest of the house."

  The small, single-story house was confirmed clear of any other monsters thirty seconds later. As the team leader walked into the living room, his heavy weapons specialist motioned to him from the front door. Six walked up to the door and was greeted by an irate Las Animas County SWAT captain.

  "If you don't let me and my men in here, I'm going to arrest you and your team. This was our own. I want to see the bodies of the bastards who did this!" He was getting angrier by the minute.

  Six held up his hands, palm out, to calm the captain. "Captain Jackson, it IS your own deputy's scene. If you and your men investigate, you will taint the evidence for anyone we missed. We are the perfect third party to investigate this one. You have to see reason. Just know this: two suspects down. And this is still our call. If you have any questions, please call my department. You have my badge number.

  "In the meantime. I'm going to have the HRT guard the scene until your lab techs get here. I'll talk to you in the morning when I have a better grasp of what's happening."

  Six turned and walked back into the house. The lead agent found his sniper on the back porch talking with the HRT guys.

  "No, seriously. I'm glad I joined this team," God was saying. "I know all the secrecy crap is annoying, but I'm doing important stuff. Even better, I'm finding answers to questions that I've had for a long time."

  The HRT team leader clasped his former teammate on the shoulder. "If you ever want out of the 'secret club' and want to come back to the real world, give me a call. I'll have you back anytime. And if you ever need backup, we'll be there to pull your butts from the fire."

  God laughed. He noticed Six standing there and motioned him closer. "Hey, Boss. This is Special Agent Alton Lynch, HRT command. He was my team leader before I joined this team."

  Six nodded at the large man. "We've met. And I believe he's still a little mad that we are here. Agent Lynch, I can honestly say thank you for giving us Agent Rivera here. Even if it wasn't voluntary. Jesús is a great testament to you and your team. If I ever get done with him, I'll send him back." The team leader stretched out his hand.

  Lynch took the proffered hand and squeezed. "You better treat him right and send him back whole. Or I'll hunt you down myself."

  Six nodded solemnly. "I make sure all my guys and gals come home whole... if it's in my power."

  Six looked at Lynch. "While I've got you here, I would like to have a couple of your team detailed for a few hours to guard this crime scene and the other one. Just until the techs get done. Not only is this part of our original case, but keeping this in our jurisdiction removes any potential conflict of interest from the sheriff. Can you do that?"

  Lynch nodded and called four of his team over. "Pearson. Sanders. No one but DHS and the lab techs come in or out of this house. Williams. Jones. You guys cover the other house." The HRT commander ordered, "Stay outside. This is a DHS scene, and we are seconding to them for this duration."

  Lynch turned to Six and asked, "Can we get a briefing in the morning?"

  Six nodded. "Absolutely. I'll brief you when I brief Captain Jackson and the undersheriff. Unfortunately, I don't think we're done here yet."

  18

  DAYLIGHT

  OPS BASE, TRINIDAD, COLORADO.

  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in Trinidad, Colorado, when the black MRAP rumbled to a halt outside the South Central Council of Governments building. The back hatch opened, and a weary group of individuals exited the vehicle. As they wandered into the conference room, the five men and two women sat heavily in their respective seats.

  Six looked around the table. "Let's regroup what we know, and what we don't," said Six as he began the briefing. "I'm going to bring Agent Smith in on this meeting with a conference call."

  The DHS team leader dialed a number on his SSP and hit the speaker toggle on the touchscreen. Agent Smith answered on the second ring. Six said, "Agent Smith, I've got you on speakerphone for this briefing. I think you need to be in on this one."

  "Thank you for including me on this meeting, Agent Holstein." The cultured voice of the senior agent was clear over the phone speakers. "I've read through all your reports. Any mistakes so far are solely caused by your lack of specific training here at HQ. I'm noting those only so that we can correct that deficiency when you and your team get back.

  "Overall, though, I have to commend you on an excellent operation so far. You guys have handled way more than any of us thought you should be thrown into. This was supposed to be a fairly light training mission. As you are aware, we have upgraded this mission to 'Ultra-Red,' which means you are going to be granted access to virtually unlimited assets. Burt, this is your mission, so I'll turn it over to you."

  Six smiled. "First up: Doc. You handled the autopsies last night? How did those go?"

  Doc stood wearily. "We learned several things from the corpses themselves, and even more from the hospital," she said.

  WHEN THE ASSISTANT coroner and crime scene technicians had arrived, Six had ordered Doc to ride with the corpses and had informed her that she would be handling
the autopsies herself. He had sent Boomer along as backup, in case any was needed.

  Doc had supervised the handling of the two deceased creatures and had stood with the bodies until they had been packed into the ambulance for the short ride to the morgue in the basement of the hospital. Boomer had climbed into the passenger seat with the driver, while her partner had ridden with the techs in the back of the transport.

  When they had reached the hospital, the body bags had been wheeled down into the morgue, and the bags had been placed on the exam tables in preparation of the coroner's autopsy. When Bill, dressed in an exam gown and surgical mask, had approached the tables, Doc had held out a hand to stop him.

  "Bill, I am officially relieving you of the autopsy of these remains," Doc had insisted. "Unfortunately, you don't have the Top Secret Clearance required to perform the autopsies. As you know, I'm a board-certified medical doctor, and I will be handling the post-mortem. In fact, I cannot even have you in the room with me while I do the autopsies," she had said.

  "Are you kidding me?" Doctor Stewart had let the outrage seep into his voice. "You can't keep me out of my own lab! State law says that you have to be a certified Medical Examiner to perform an autopsy. You don't have the qualifications."

  Doc had withdrawn her credentials from an inner pocket. She had opened them up and shoved them into Stewart's face. Her voice was cold and calm as she had said, "This is my authorization. This is officially a Department of Homeland Security operation, and is currently classified Top Secret. You do not have the clearance. Period. Now get out before I throw you out."

  Doctor Stewart had sneered and stepped closer, his bulk menacing the agent. "You couldn't throw me out if you tried," he had growled.

  There had been a loud mechanical "snick-snack" of the slide on a pump shotgun racking that had echoed in the room. Bill had turned to see Doc's partner. Her shotgun had been raised, but not quite pointed, in Stewart's direction.