Paradise Hacked (First Circle Club Book 2) (25 page)

"That seems foolhardy. If they see us, they might just start shooting."

"You lack confidence in the good nature of your fellow man."

"That's because I've seen many with a very bad nature," Virgil said.

"Well, you can do what you want, but I'm not going to sneak around like a thief."

Virgil looked at Lisa. She rolled her eyes in frustration.

"Give us a ten minute head start at least," he said, "so we can check the place out and see if it looks safe."

"Fine," Alfred said. "Ten minutes."

"Let's go," Virgil said.

He and Lisa began to jog towards the house. They quickly left the street to find a stealthier approach. It was the middle of a sunny day, so cover was crucial. The spacious front yards had trees and bushes, but it wasn't enough.

The backyards turned out to be a better option. A lack of fences allowed Virgil and Lisa to run freely. Some of the majestic trees had to be a hundred years old.

The two of them sprinted from hiding spot to hiding spot. They moved so fast, they managed to startle a squirrel. Virgil was nimble, but he had to admit Lisa was more so. She skimmed over the grass with silent footsteps. She turned and twisted with the fluidity of water.

They stopped when they could see the back of the target house. Thick white posts framed a screened back porch. Half a basketball court was in the corner of the huge backyard. The branches of an oak tree extended over the roof.

"See anything?" Virgil whispered.

Lisa shook her head. "Very quiet."

"Yeah. That worries me."

They crept closer. He could peek through several of the windows, but the interior of the house appeared empty. He didn't even see furniture.

"Let's find a sneaky way in," Virgil said. "Just to be on the safe side."

Lisa pointed at a second-floor balcony. "There. We'll drop down from a tree branch."

"Yes."

They crawled over to the oak tree with their bellies dragging across the grass. Lisa was the first to reach the tree. She wrapped her arms and legs around the thick trunk and began to shimmy up. She was just holding onto the bark.

Virgil followed her.

* * *

Alfred sighed. He wasn't sure if ten minutes had passed, but it didn't matter. He was going.

He started jogging straight towards the house. Unlike his teammates, he didn't seek any kind of cover. He had nothing to hide.

Virgil's and Lisa's relentless paranoia troubled Alfred. He didn't understand how anybody would want to live with constant fear and distrust. Life was much more pleasant when one started with a positive attitude. He wasn't just being naïve. In life, he had provided psychological services to hardened criminals. He had seen all forms of evil during his long career. In his experience, a little kindness and understanding could soften even the blackest hearts.

Alfred used his new ability to locate his teammates. In his eyes, they looked like patches of darkness behind the house. They were a few dozen feet off the ground.

Are they climbing a tree?
Alfred wondered.
How ridiculous.

He walked straight up to the front door and knocked. While he waited for an answer, he looked around. The house was silent, and no cars were parked on the driveway. The grass had been mowed recently though which he took as a good sign.

Alfred knocked harder.

* * *

"Alfred is in front of the house," Lisa whispered. "He's early."

"I noticed," Virgil replied unhappily.

He saw Alfred as a patch of shimmering white light. The effect was beautiful but a little spooky. It made Virgil think of ghosts.

He and Lisa were working their way along a sturdy branch above the house. She dropped off first, falling about thirty feet and landing softly on the balcony. After Virgil got into position, he did the same. Wood creaked beneath his feet on impact.

They looked through a French door into a master bedroom. The room was bare except for some loose garbage which included packing tape and Styrofoam peanuts.

"They're gone?" Virgil whispered.

Lisa shrugged. "They knew we might come. Maybe they didn't want to have their asses kicked again."

"That's not how Special Forces guys think. When they lose a fight, they just come back harder and nastier the next time."

"Maybe," Lisa said. "Let's break in."

"Quietly. The enemy might be lurking nearby."

He tried the door handle, but it was locked. He took off his coat, wrapped it around his fist, and punched the glass. The cloth muffled the impact so it only made a soft crunch. He reached through the hole and opened the door from the inside.

* * *

Alfred decided nobody was going to answer the door. Perhaps the house was empty. He had to get inside somehow and search for clues. He wiggled the handle, but it didn't budge.

He backed up several steps, ran forward, and slammed his shoulder against the door. He bounced off.
I lacked commitment,
he thought. He tried again, putting all his strength into it. He burst through the door into the house.

A claymore mine exploded, blowing him backwards. Hot shrapnel ripped through his body.

* * *

"What was that?" Lisa said.

An explosion had shaken the house, knocking dust from the ceiling.

"Alfred!" Virgil said.

He ran around a corner and almost smacked into two soldiers in a hallway. They were fully armed and ready for a fight. They opened fire immediately.

Quick reactions saved Virgil from the worst of it. He dived beneath the streams of bullets and caught only a few rounds in his back where his vest provided some protection. He barreled through the legs of one soldier, breaking both of the man's knees. Virgil rolled to his feet, stole a knife from the first man, and stabbed the other in the gap between his neck and his body armor.

Virgil spotted a staircase and ran down it, taking three steps at a time. He found Alfred by the front door. Virgil gasped in horror.

Hundreds of small but nasty wounds had shredded Alfred. White, sticky blood was everywhere. The damage was far more than he could heal from.

Burn marks and broken floor boards showed Virgil where the bomb had exploded. The blast pattern made him think a claymore had been wired to the door.
Nasty way to greet guests,
he thought.

Lisa caught up to them. "No," she whispered.

Virgil heard footsteps. He turned to confront his new adversaries, but Lisa was even quicker. She flew across the room as two soldiers entered. She grabbed one by the head, flipped over him, and broke his thick neck. She kicked the other in the back of the knee, and he fell. She ripped a rifle out of the hands of the first opponent. She fired a stream of bullets through the skull of the second. Brains sprayed outward.

She stood over her dead victims, glaring furiously. The look in her eyes reminded Virgil of demons he had known.

"Shameful loss of self-control," Alfred muttered.

Virgil looked at him. "Are you in pain?"

"No," Alfred mumbled through a mouth full of white blood, "but I'm going to need medical treatment fairly soon."

Virgil knew he wasn't talking about any doctor on Earth. The kind of help Alfred needed could only come from Heaven.

"We still need to search this place," Virgil said. "Can you hang on for a few minutes?"

"Be quick."

"Lisa, let's move!"

Virgil and Lisa ran through the house. They used speed to compensate for lack of stealth.

Marks on the walls and garbage on the floor provided evidence of a hasty departure by the military. He even found dirty dishes in the kitchen, and the food looked fresh.

Virgil and Lisa went down to the basement. The space had been cleared, but debris left behind provided some clues. He found screws, bits of wire, drops of solder, metal shavings, and a piece of a broken circuit board.
An electronics workshop?
he thought.

The two of them returned to the main floor. They discovered a soldier threatening Alfred with a gun.

Virgil tried to tackle his adversary, but the guy was surprisingly nimble. Virgil ended up flying into a wall upside-down. He bounced off and made a second attempt. He grabbed the soldier around the midsection, lifted him, and slammed him down like a professional wrestler. The soldier was stunned but still managed to draw a knife and slash Virgil's thigh. Virgil ripped the knife away and stabbed the guy in the right hand, pinning it to the wooden floor.

Virgil grabbed the soldier's head and stared into his eyes. Virgil used his power at full blast to inflict abject terror.

"Talk!" he yelled. "Where is your unit? Where did they go?"

"I don't know!" the soldier gibbered.

"You must know something!"

Lisa came over. She touched the man's face, causing the skin to blister and split. She had the power to inflict gruesome injuries on contact. It was the opposite of Sara's healing power. The purplish wounds looked like a nasty combination of a burn and an infection.

He screamed in agony.

"Let him be," Alfred called out.

"Stay out of this," Virgil said. He blasted the soldier with his gaze again. "Talk now or it will only get worse for you."

"They didn't tell me where they went!" the soldier cried.

Virgil believed him. It was an obvious security precaution under the circumstances. He didn't like dealing with smart adversaries.

"I need to go," Alfred said. "I'm losing my strength."

Virgil growled in frustration. Today had been a complete disaster. He punched the soldier, knocking him out.

Virgil took another look at Alfred and realized carrying him back to the car wasn't a good idea. He needed to be moved as little as possible.

"Lisa," Virgil said, "go get the car. I'll guard Alfred."

Lisa nodded and ran out the front doorway. The door itself was nothing but kindling.

"I hope you learned your lesson," Virgil said.

"What lesson?" Alfred said.

"Walking in the front door isn't always the right choice. You should've gone in with us."

"If I ever lose my trust in humanity, I won't want to live anymore."

"You're not alive now," Virgil said.

"You know what I mean."

Virgil heard wood creaking overhead. Somebody was walking upstairs.

Virgil grabbed an assault rifle off the floor and silently padded up the steps.

The soldier he had stabbed was dead, but the man with broken knees was gone. Virgil explored the second story.

He heard a low voice behind a closed door, and he debated what to do. If he simply kicked open the door, he would likely get shot, but he didn't have time to mess around. Lisa would be back with the car very soon.

Virgil kicked the door, but instead of entering immediately, he dropped down and moved to the side. As expected, bullets zipped through the space his head had just occupied.

"If you shoot at me again," he yelled. "I will kill you. Last warning. Drop your weapons."

Virgil charged in and saw two soldiers, one sitting on a chair and one lying on the floor. The latter had broken knees. He shot Virgil in the chest with a pistol. Virgil responded by blasting the man several times in the face.

Virgil turned to the other threat. The soldier was sitting in front of a security console with several video displays. Live feeds showed views of the house, both inside and outside. He was wearing a headset wired to a military radio. His hands were in the air.

"Smart man," Virgil said. "Who are you talking to?"

"My commander."

"Excellent. Back away. Let me speak to him."

The soldier's hands were shaking as he handed over the headset. He went to a far corner of the room, and Virgil kept his gun pointed in that direction.

Virgil put on the headset. "Who do I have the pleasure of talking to?"

"I'm not telling you my name," a male voice responded.

"But you're in charge?"

"Yes."

"You have to stop what you're doing," Virgil said. "Give it up. You're causing more trouble than you can imagine."

"I'm doing what is right for the United States and humanity. We can't let aliens come and go as they please. I have no idea what your intentions are. An invasion force might show up tomorrow. We must understand your technology. We must control your portals."

"I promise no invasion is coming."

"Your word means nothing to me," the commander said. "You just killed more of my men."

"They shot at us first. You've been the aggressor from the beginning."

"With good reason. You're monsters."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Virgil said.

"We examined your friend, Sara. She looks human, but the resemblance is only skin deep."

Virgil lowered his head. That statement had confirmed Sara was a prisoner.

"I can't tell you the truth, but I will say you're headed for disaster. You will fail to achieve your objectives, and even more soldiers will die."

"I've never failed before," the commander said. "It won't happen this time. I will protect the Earth from you no matter what it takes. I never admit defeat."

Virgil heard a car horn outside the house. Lisa had returned.

He threw the headset angrily at the floor and ran downstairs. The minivan was parked on the lawn as close to the front door as it could get.

Captain Kyle and Mei were standing on the porch and staring at Alfred with horrified expressions.

"Come on!" Virgil said. "Help me get him into the car!"

Kyle helped Virgil carry Alfred. They carefully placed the injured man on the back seat, but he didn't have the strength to sit up on his own. Virgil leaned him against the window.

Virgil and Mei sat in the middle seats. Lisa was at the wheel, and Kyle was riding shotgun.

As soon as everybody was settled, Lisa drove off.

"What happened?" Mei said.

"They attacked without provocation," Virgil said. "They had no interest in talking. The headquarters is gone, but a squad was left behind to kill us. I did confirm they're holding Sara."

"Where are we going?" Lisa said.

"Back to Aladdin's Castle," Alfred said. "I'm sure I can get what I need there."