Return of the Phoenix - 01 (12 page)

“No! Jack, please, you misunderstand me, Jack!”

“Bullshit! You think that I’m fucking stupid? You think you can just walk in here and bat your vampire eyes at me and I’m gonna go stupid and just start spilling secrets to you and…”

“Jack! Stop it!” Nadia screamed. Rising to her feet, she took him by the shoulders and shook him. “Jack, it’s about your blood!”

Jack finally stopped ranting and froze. He stared at her face, and she seemed frightened. That scared him more than anything else she could have said. Well, that and there were tears in her eyes.
Can vampires cry?
Or was this a trick? Many thoughts, half-thoughts, and blank thoughts ran through Jack’s mind all at once, but he did calm down. Something innate told him he needed to know what she knew. Or at least, what she suspected. 

“Okay, gal pal. You have my attention,” he said. “Spill it.”

“I must ask you some questions please,” Nadia said, trying to calm herself as she sat back down. Her hands were shaking as she attempted to smooth her skirt again. A skirt that didn’t need smoothing, Jack noticed.

“Okay, Nadia, ask your questions,” Jack said slowly and softly, trying more to help calm her than himself.

“You told Rufus when you got here that your people had given you something that would prevent you from becoming vampire if you were bitten, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know what this ‘something’ is?”

“Sorry, sugar, I’m no doc,” Jack said honestly. He cracked a grin. “All I know is that it came in a needle along with a lot of other needles.
Big
needles. Some of them hurt, some didn’t.”

Nadia turned away, thinking. When she turned back to him, she looked him in the eyes and asked, “Is there anything else that they give to you, Jack? Something that you take regularly?”

“Yeah. All the time. We take supplements, vitamins, enhancement stuff. Things to make us stronger, faster, and keep our immune system beefed up.”

He could see her eyes shifting as if reading a book or a
ccessing parts of her memory. Then, her light bulb came on. Jack saw it and knew it as soon as she did. “The things they give you, was it bitter and dark in color?”

“Actually, it’s in a capsule, but yes, it is dark,” he said. Her face fell when he didn’t admit it was bitter. “But you know one time, I had a capsule stick to my tongue, you know, because it wasn’t wet enough or something, and I guess it dissolved or melted before I could pry it loose and wash it down. Anyway, it was the most gawdawful-tasting crap I ever had in my mouth.” Her face lit up. “Seriously, it was
horrible
tasting. I thought maybe somebody took a dump in one of those little pill thingies, but then I was like, ‘who could take such a tiny dump?’ and then I was like, ‘well maybe a leprechaun’ or something ‘cuz it really tasted like shit…”

“No, Jack! This is such wonderful news!” Nadia jumped up and hugged him. “Would you be sure of the taste again if you tasted it?” she asked.

“The leprechaun shit?” Jack asked. “Just kidding.” He smiled. “I mean, yeah. I’d know it. It’s pretty hard to forget.”

“Good!” she said, reaching her hand into a bag tied to her belt and pulling out a pinch of some powder she had in there. “Open your mouth!”

“What?!” Jack started backing up on the bed. “What do you mean open my mou—” Nadia shoved her fingers into Jack’s mouth and released the powder. What followed can best be described as a human imitation of a lawn sprinkler. Jack turning his head from side to side spitting as he went. Pft, pft, pft, pft, pft, pft, long turn, long spit, pft, pft, pft, pft, pft, pft! “What the hell did you do that for?!”

“I needed to know. Is this the same thing that your people are giving you?” she asked.

“Water! Please, I gotta get this taste out of my mouth!” Jack reached for the pitcher beside the bed and bypassed the glass, drinking straight from the pitcher. “Oh my God. I think a leprechaun shit in my mouth again.”

“So it is the same?” Nadia asked, obviously excited.

“Why would you do that?” Jack asked? “That wasn’t even nice. I wouldn’t shove powdered leprechaun shit into your mouth when you weren’t expecting it.”

“Oh, but you
were
expecting it!” Nadia got up and sat next to him, practically bouncing on the bed. She took the water pitcher from him and looked him in the eye. She took a deep breath and then sighed. “Jack. We need to have a very long talk.”

“Hopefully about something better than leprechaun excr
ement?”

Her smile almost broke his heart. She almost seemed sad.

“Jack, we only have days until the next full moon. There is little time.”

11

Matt and Laura approached the cell where Evan sat patiently in the darkness. He sat in a classic yoga lotus position, but far enough back in the darkness that any guards who may have happened by would not easily see him. Not that the guards ever really checked on him. He had been sent here to starve to death and his bars were coated in silver. The only time anybody ever came was if Laura came down to cry, or if Matt came down and stayed just out of what he thought was eyeshot and whispered, “I’m sorry.” Or if, like the other day, when the squad got new recruits. But this day, both Matt and Laura came down, and it appeared official.

“Why aren’t you dead?” Matt asked.

“Good day to you, too, Colonel Mitchell,” Evan replied without opening his eyes. “You are looking well.”

“I know why you are looking so well. Laura told me. But why didn’t you die while you were down here?” he asked again.

“Colonel, need I remind you, I’m already dead?” Evan replied. This time he opened his eyes. “My body may shrivel, but it can’t die any more than it already has.”

“Wanna bet?” Matt asked dryly.

This time Evan looked up at him and raised his eyebrows. He cracked a smile. “
Touché
, colonel.” Dr. Peters stood up and stretched his neck. It made the classic cracking noise and he sighed. “Did you come to finally let me out so I can get back to work, sir?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Matt said. Laura stayed in the background, standing at attention. She r
efused to show any emotion but her heart was pounding so hard, she knew that both men could hear it. “Evan, I don’t know how anybody…” Matt paused, he just couldn’t find words strong enough to convey the thoughts he was thinking, the thoughts he felt in his gut. “I don’t know how anyone could endure what you’ve had to endure and not be holding such a grudge that they wouldn’t go on a killing rampage.” Matt was shaking his head. “If it were me, not only would I say anything, or do anything to get out from behind those bars, I would promise the moon and stars, then I would kill every last bastard that put me there.”

Evan lowered his eyes a moment. He nodded his head as he considered the colonel’s words. “I suppose I could see your point, sir,” he said. “But you’re not a vampire. You still think in terms of a ‘lifetime’ whereas I think in terms of ‘eternity’. And eternity is a long time. What’s a few years of hunger out of an eternity?” Evan stepped closer to the bars. “Besides, it wasn’t you or your people who
really
put me in here, now was it?” He shook his head. “No. We both know that it was Leslie Franklin and his people who did it.”

Matt nodded his agreement and started to say something, but Evan cut him off, “We don’t know why. We don’t know to what purpose, or to what design, but we do know he had a re
ason. The good Senator doesn’t take a leak without a reason for it. Am I right?”

Matt cracked a smile. He knew what Evan wanted to say, but held back because Laura was standing next to him. “You are correct. He gives slimy politicians a bad name.”

“Then I would suggest that whether you let me out or not, you find out what the senator is up to. Quickly. Because the time that was wasted with me down here turning into vampire jerky is time we won’t get back.”

Matt turned to Laura and nodded. She hit a button on the side of the wall and the door slid open. Evan didn’t move. Matt and Laura walked in and opened a backpack. Laura pulled out a lab coat and a change of clothes for Evan and she handed Matt a bag. The bag held the cremated remains taken from a mortuary of unclaimed human remains. “Let’s get you out of here and back to doing what you do best,” she said as she handed Evan the clothes.

“We have to make it look like you didn’t survive being down here, though,” Matt added.

Laura picked out a can of self-tanner from the bag and had Evan spread-eagle against the wall. “This is supposed to be the best there is on the market,” she said as she began to spray his skin. “Let’s hope it works well with dead skin, too.”

“Please, please, please, let it be copper and not orange,” Evan muttered.

“Why, Doc, I never would have taken you for the egotistical type.” Matt grinned.

“Not egotistical, colonel,” he replied. “Survivalist. Unfortunately, in my case, a bad tan job could be my undoing.”

“Or if it’s too dark, you might have to learn to talk with an Indian accent,” Laura quipped.

“There’s plenty of 7-11s that need night managers,” Matt tossed in.

“Oh, please. Let’s just all have a hearty laugh at the va
mpire’s expense!” Evan groaned.

“I really don’t know why you’re bitching. You’re getting a spray tan from a pretty girl. I’m stuffing your years old unde
rwear and prison garb with human ashes to fake your death. I think you owe me a bottle of scotch.”

“I think you owe me three years back pay, plus pain and su
ffering,” Evan shot back.

“I think you boys need to stop griping and focus on the task at hand,” Laura scolded both.

“Yes, mom,” Matt replied with a grin.

Laura finished applying the spray tan as evenly as she could. She picked the most realistic, light colored bronze she could find and even snuck into the morgue and tested it on the leg of a c
adaver to see if it would work on dead flesh. It seemed to work well and she hoped there wasn’t anything ‘special’ about vampire skin that would cause a reaction and so far, there wasn’t one. She had picked a fast drying tanner because she feared time would be against them, but Evan assured her that nobody ever came down there. Still, when both the CO and the XO were missing at the same time, somebody was bound to come looking.

Once Evan was dressed and the death scene prepared, they left as quietly as they could. Laura took Evan back to her office and cut his hair in a military buzz cut. He showered and presen
ted himself as Dr. Peter Evans. Not the most ingenious of aliases, but all agreed that when he was deeply focused on a project, it would be difficult for him to remember that his name was supposed to John Muckenfuch if somebody were to yell it from across the lab. However, if they yelled either his first or last name, he would pick up on it and his attention would be turned. The only people they really had to worry about were the Oversight Committee, namely Senator Franklin, and since they rarely if ever came to the base, it shouldn’t be a problem. Evan was just happy to get his lab out of mothballs and back into operation and get back into his work. He had plenty of time to think while incarcerated, and he had many theories he wanted to put to the drawing board and then to prototype so the field agents could test them.

“It’s still risky,” Matt said, the ice in his glass tinkling in his hand.

“I’m willing to risk it,” Laura said flatly. They both stood at the rail outside the administrative offices overlooking the lab and R&D areas. They could see Evan diligently setting his lab back up and pulling his research back out of the lockers, taking up right where he left off.

“I don’t like the idea of you getting out of date blood from the clinic. Somebody will put two and two together,” he said.

“If I’m caught, I’ll explain that it’s for his research.”

“That much blood?” He gave her a look of disbelief.

Laura turned to him. She was going to argue, but she knew she didn’t have one. She turned back to the rail and studied him. She knew she had to do
something
, but what could she do? “It’s better than nothing. And we can’t get animals anymore.” She said. “I won’t let him starve again.”

“Neither will I,” Matt said. “That’s why I’m going to go in-house.” He turned and walked into his office. Laura, confused as hell, followed him.

“What do you mean, go in-house?”

“I mean, we’re going to supply him ourselves. Fresh human blood.”

Laura was dumbfounded. “How?”

“Volunteers.”

Laura stood in Matt’s office, her mouth open. She watched as he worked his computer for a bit. He sat back and studied it. “We have just under two hundred personnel with the team, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Not counting the actual squad members, since we don’t know what the augmented blood would do to him, that leaves a hundred and eighty-three actual people. So, let’s say we can get a hundred volunteers. They can donate every eight weeks, so that will be close to two units per day. If we get more volunteers, that would be more blood. If we get fewer volunteers, it would be less, but either way, at least we’ll be in-house and nobody is the wiser.”

Laura was dumbfounded. “Do you think our people will do it?” she asked. “Will we tell them what it’s for? Surely some of them will recognize him and…”

“Those who knew him, liked him. They all thought he got a raw deal,” Matt said. He sat back in his chair. “The new people either won’t know or can think it’s for researching new anti-vamp weapons. I don’t give a shit what they think. I’m not going to twist anybody’s arm to do this.”

“Word of mouth or…”

“Post it on the break room doors, the rec room, the snack machines, the latrine doors, anywhere people frequent. Make it flyers. I don’t want emails going out on this. Make it ambiguous, too. Let them think it’s for the R&D department,” Matt said. “If we can’t order fresh human blood, then we’ll use our own. Either way, make sure it’s known that we gotta have it and we need a steady supply of it.”

“Mission essential?”

“Eh, don’t play it up that far. Not yet. If we don’t get the participation I expect, then we can step it up.”

Laura plopped herself into the chair opposite Matt and sighed. “We really did it, didn’t we?”

“We stepped in it.” Matt laughed.

“When you began this journey, did you ever think you’d be sitting here like this?” she asked. “I mean, not only did you have one of the ‘enemy’ working for you, but you just went against your orders to free a prisoner…one of the enemy…and put him
back
to work for you?”

Matt looked at her over his still untouched scotch. The ice had long ago melted. “Do
you
consider Evan an enemy, Laura?”

She didn’t quite expect that question. She looked down at her hands and saw that she had been picking at her nails ner
vously. “No,” she answered quietly. “But I’ve never blatantly went against so many orders before, either.” She sighed and took a deep breath. “Honestly, I’m a bit scared.”

Matt sat up and looked her square in the eye. “Well, don’t be.” This time he took a drink from his Scotch. “Those orders were bullshit and we both know it. Evan was no threat. Franklin had a hair up his ass, and Doc out there was a threat to his age
nda,” he said, hooking his thumb out the door to indicate the lab area. “Whatever the doc is learning out in his lab has Franklin running scared, and I want to know why.”