The Killers Amongst Us: Chimera Dawn Chronicles (30 page)

IT
was looking as though they had been checkmated at the animal sanctuary.

“Not so fast,” a voice called from behind.

Shaw snatched his head to look back along the entrance road.
Two of Frank’s militia who he recognized from back at the barn knelt in the
road, pointing their hand held rocket launchers through the gate.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa there,” Shaw said, waving his arms in the
air. “Let’s stop all this now. Everyone stand down with their weapons before
someone gets hurt. Frank, release his cuffs.”

“Who are these monkeys?” said Fuller, and rubbing at his
wrists.

“There’s more than these two. This is my posse. Isn’t that
right, Frank?”

“Yeah, less of the monkeys. Be careful not to twitch.”

Cat signaled to the women. They lowered their weapons and
melted back behind the cover of the trees.

“Frank. You heard me.” Shaw sent him a stare.

Frank heaved a sigh “Stand down boys.”

This wasn’t the time for a full-blown shootout, or the time
for calling out Frank for going against his orders. If Fuller knew who was
holding Amy, Shaw knew it called for some trust on both sides. He signaled for
Frank to follow him with a sway of his hand, and walked over to one of the guys
with a rocket launcher. Shaw spotted some of the others from the militia,
partly hidden by the cover of the bushes and trees. Across the road, they had
tethered their horses. He recognized his own horse right away, and wondered
just how they’d gotten them through.

“Listen, Frank, I need you and your guys to stay here. We’re
going into the sanctuary to find out what they know about Amy. If we’re not
back out, or we don’t radio within two hours, round up all your buddies and
start World War Three.”

“We have enough men and fire power, don’t worry none about
that,” said Frank.

“I heard that,” said Cox. “Look, I’ll go in with you, Carla
will stay here. We have cell signals here outside the boundary. No disrespect
to your posse, but Carla will phone for backup from our guys if needs be.”

“Only if we’re clear that it is if needs be,” Shaw said.

“Clear,” said Carla.

“You good with that, Frank?”

Frank shuffled his feet on the gravel. Frank didn’t look
pleased at the idea of joining his militia with the FBI.

“Yeah, but we ain’t waiting for no one—if needs be.”

“I’m good with that,” said Cox.

Frank grinned. Shaw turned and walked over to Fuller.

“Have you contacted Summers about the water supply?”

“I was just about to when these guys arrived.”

Fuller took out his cell phone.

Shaw turned to Fuller, and said, “How did this all start?”

“One of them slipped up and wound down his window. The girls
here could smell them.”

“Smell them?”

“Wait I have Summers on the line.”

Fuller relayed the details. Shaw interrupted.

“Better tell him that Grimes is somehow involved and to stop
the sale and distribution of water bottles from the general store.”

Fuller walked around in circles talking on his cell, then stopped
to pick up his pistol. Shaw stooped, picked up his revolver and slid it into
his holster. Fuller closed his call. Saw had noticed that fuller hadn’t told
Summers where he was, or how he’d found out about the contamination.

“Right, let’s get going and meet Cleo. Then I can show you where
we think Amy is being held and how I plan to get her back.”

“Just tell me where she is.”

“No point telling, best I show you the proof, then you can
see for yourself.”

Cat and Kitten walked ahead with Cox. Shaw passed the bodies
and sidestepped to one side. One of the bodies twitched.

“Jesus!”

The guy’s chest heaved violently, popping his shirt buttons.
His eyes opened, bulging from their sockets. Shaw stumbled back, drawing his
revolver. Fuller grabbed his wrist.

“Let the girls handle this.”

Shaw looked on, wide eyed and dumbstruck. The guy’s skin on
his face bubbled as if it was frying. His features contorted, taking on the
appearance of a rabid Doberman, but much bigger. One of the women held her arm
aloft, then struck down with her machete on his neck, repeatedly hacking at him
until his head was severed from his body. Bile rose in Shaw’s throat, just
short of throwing up. He spat out the acid taste from his mouth.

“What the hell is it that I’ve just seen? He was dead,
Christ’s sake.”

“Cleo can explain better than me. Like I said, the situation
is bigger than anything you could imagine—then some. Leave them to their work,”
Fuller said, and grabbing at Shaw’s arm, he guided him along the driveway.
Fuller let go of his arm and Shaw dropped back.

He stumbled on in a daze, repeatedly looking over his
shoulders. Both women were hacking away, dismembering both bodies. Shaw’s mind
turned to Amy and he quickened his pace. He narrowed his eyes, staring at
Fuller from behind. With him not saying outright where Amy was being held, Shaw
wondered if it could be a ruse that Fuller was using to get them inside the
bowels of the sanctuary. Cox looked over her shoulder, glancing Shaw’s way,
tightening her lips. Shaw could have sworn he was reading her mind as he recalled
her words. ‘No risk, no reward.’ But the look on her face told him this was all
risk and to stay alert.

THE
elevator descended at the sanctuary. Shaw’s mind
puzzled. He knew what he had witnessed with the guy transforming to a dog
creature. It wasn’t imagined. Then there was the leopards changing to human
form. The former could explain the human footprints and dog tracks at the vets.
Then there was what Rigby had witnessed before he shot the mountain lion, and
Frank’s photographs at the cliff side where Johno had fallen. Amy’s description
of Johno freaking out at the hospital and calling them monsters could have been
him reliving him seeing the transformation of a human to a dog creature. But
just where had these creatures come from, he was damned if he knew.

Whatever was happening, he reckoned Grimes was in the thick
of it, but just what motivated him to try and poison his own town, defied an
answer. He recalled Cleo saying they might move to Britain to carry out genetic
experiments. Maybe she already had, and the experiments had gone wrong. He
wondered if the poisoning of the water supply, and say some kind of genetic
experiments were not connected. In any event, it fried his brain as to what
connection if any to either event could have led to Amy’s kidnap, and the
attempt on Johno’s life. Just where Ted fitted into the scheme of things, he
couldn’t be sure. All he knew was that Ted would be toast as far as Amy was
concerned when she returned.

The elevator stopped at the second level. He exchanged
glances with Cox. Kitten ushered them along the corridor and signaled for them
to sit outside the lecture room door. Fuller and Cat walked on through the
door.

“What’s on the third level?” Cox asked.

“Our laboratory.”

Kitten had been quick enough to respond, but didn’t
elaborate.

Cox fired back. “What about through the double doors at the
end of this corridor?”

“Private quarters for the students.”

“We’re ready now,” said Cat, popping her head around the door
frame.

Shaw followed Cox into the lecture room. Fuller was stood
over at the operating table, spreading out papers. He moved some leg-stirrup
apparatus from the table to one side.

“This is where we think Amy is being held,” said Fuller.

Shaw looked at an aerial photo on the table.

“If I’m not mistaken, that’s the silver mine. It didn’t look
like that when I was there.”

What had been an open compound, surrounded by containers,
was now completely closed in. Shaw recalled them welding a container to start a
second tier. If he wasn’t mistaken, the closed compound now took on the form of
a pyramid, built with the metal shipping containers.

“Yes they’ve been busy, but then I think they knew what to
expect,” said Fuller. “The main thing to look at is the vehicle parked among
the construction equipment.”

“Shaw studied the image, then stepped back.”

“That’s an ambulance.”

“Yeah, the numbers correspond to the one stolen in LA.”

“What are we waiting for, let’s get in there.”

“It’s not that simple. Did you see a doorway into the
compound when you visited the quarry?”

“Well no, but I didn’t walk all the way around.”

“See now, our miniature drone has. There isn’t an opening
that we can determine. All that’s poking out of the top is what we think is a
communication mast. Obviously they must have a way in, but we don’t know where.”

Cox pulled on Shaw’s arm, and looked over at Fuller.

“Can we have a private word?”

“Sure,” said Fuller.

She guided Shaw out of earshot and whispered.

“They could have photo shopped the ambulance in the image.”

“What would he have to gain by that?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t trust him. What have homeland
security got to do with kidnapping? He should have called in the FBI, and they
should have the area surrounded by now.”

“Well let’s ask him.”

Shaw looked over and called out. “Have you notified the FBI?”

“I think I just have. Agent Cox is FBI, right?” He sent a
smug smile in Cox’s direction.

“So you won’t mind me phoning our office to have a recovery
team sent out here.”

“Well actually, yes, I would mind. You need to hear the rest
of what I have to say.”

They walked back to the table.

“I’m all ears.” said Shaw.”

“The problem with the situation is we don’t know which
agency to trust, so we need our own plan.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Cox asked.

“Politics. Factions. Call it what you will. Take Summers and
his CONOP crew. Their mission is to destroy the silver mine and everything in
it, Amy included. At the same time they intend to mount an assault here and
destroy everything, and with everyone inside. Our side, well, we want to get at
the girls and their children locked away inside the silver mine, and to get
them to safety. The rest, apart from Cleo and her supporters, okay, they can go
to hell as far as we are concerned.”

“Which girls and what children?”

“The kidnapped girls you were investigating before you
resigned. See here.”

He pointed to another image on top of a pile on the table.
Shaw studied the image and thumbed through the others. The last one had a woman
looking up into the sky. Shaw counted nineteen women and around sixty children
and babies inside the compound.

“Sex slaves?”

“Sort of. Breeding disciples they call them. See the one
looking up. Facial recognition software identified her as one of yours. Caitlin
Blake. The one who flipped burgers.”

Shaw’s mouth gaped. He recognized her from the images
imprinted in his memory, despite her shaven head.

“But why would Summers and the Pentagon want innocent women
and their children dead?”

“Cleo will explain, but only to you in private. I need agent
Cox to stay here and look over some plans.”

WALKING
through the door to Cleo’s living quarters,
Shaw noticed a young man in his early twenties exiting the door from her room
to the corridor. He briefly glanced over his shoulder at Shaw. His blond hair
swayed on his shoulders as he turned his head and exited, closing the door
behind him. The vision of his penetrating blue eyes stayed with him.

“I thought you didn’t have male company here?”

Cleo laughed. “Do I detect a hint of jealousy? Men are a
necessary evil, don’t you think? Arranging to close down our facility at such
short notice means beggars can’t choose their company.”

In his mind, Cleo was odd, with a sexy disposition, but this
wasn’t the time for her flirting and innuendo.

“I understand you have some answers for me as to just what
the hell it is I’ve witness and what it’s all about.”

“Ah, yes. Where to begin?”

“You could begin by telling me why Fuller says that the
Pentagon is going to destroy the silver mine and the sanctuary, especially
since it’s looking like Amy is being held captive over at the mine.”

“Ah yes, Amy. Special girl. More special than you could ever
imagine. Fuller has a plan to rescue her and the breeders with their children.
He’ll be explaining his plan to Agent Cox as we speak. Arrangements are being
made to mount a rescue.”

He looked over at the corridor door at the sound of
scratching. Cleo stepped over and opened then closed the door. Gyp bounded over
to him, sat, then offered a paw. Shaw shook Gyp’s paw and patted his head.

“Good, boy.”

Gyp stood and ambled over to an armchair and jumped on the
cushion. Cleo snickered.

“What’s to laugh about?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said, and sat on the sofa. “Please take a
seat.”

Cleo was becoming more irritating by the minute.

“Right, let’s begin shall we?”

“I’m all ears,” he said, and took a seat on a chair.

“Well, you can’t deny what you’ve seen, from my girls
changing form from leopards to human, or the men from the mine changing to dog
form. Those blessed with the ability are called chimeras for want of a better
explanation.”

“But where do they come from? Is it some sort of government
experiment?”

“Not really, but you could say it’s an experiment in the
future governance of the Earth.”

Her talking in riddles tested his patience. It was all he
could do from holding back to start shouting.

“Damn it, speak English. Just spit it out.”

“I will, but don’t interrupt.”

Shaw sighed, shook his head, then ran his finger across his
lips as a signal that he understood to button it up.

“Me and my kind are not fully of this Earth. What you see
before you is our human form, true flesh and blood. We have emotions, feel
pain. We can love and we can be loved. We live and we die. But then there is
the DNA in us that we can use to transform to our animal form. Your scientists
call it junk DNA, because they don’t know any better. It gives us different
senses, one of them being a powerful sense of smell and cunning in combat to
kill efficiently. In our animal form we can live and die, but only if we are
cut into pieces and submerged in bitumen for twenty-four hours, otherwise the
body can regenerate. Well, actually that’s a lie. That custom has become a
ritual, passed down over thousands of years. Severing the head will do it,” she
said and laughed. “Only it’s more of a comfort when your enemies are cut into
pieces and set in bitumen.”

Shaw stared at her, thinking she was crazed. But there was
no getting away from what he had witnessed.

“So is that why I could smell the asphalt when I first
arrived and just now outside.”

“Yes, the first time you arrived, we had caught one of their
experiments. There is another, but it escaped. The one we caught was probably responsible
for your young boy tumbling over the cliff.”

“Johno?”

“Yes, Johno. They had tried DNA experiments with a breed not
used before to build an army. Unfortunately it came with madness at maturity.”

“But where does Amy come into all this and the other
kidnapped girls?”

“It’s all about where we came from and what is needed for us
to survive in eternity on Earth. I should explain where we are from. Saying
that, there’s proof of our existence is hidden in plain sight in all the
ancient civilizations of the world. There has been more than our mission, in
all corners of the world. You can see proof in the Egyptian artifacts adorning
the walls. What I can tell you is that our faction will not harm you.”

Shaw glanced around the walls. He looked at the strange half-human
and half-animal creatures depicted in the artifacts. He’d never considered them
as other than ancient cartoons, he thought as he turned to look directly at Cleo.

“Don’t tell me you think you’re gods?”

She didn’t answer, but rising from the sofa, his jaw dropped
as her face changed form. Her face took on the features of a female lion. Shaw
gripped the chair arms, then pushed his back into his seat.

“In this form I was Bastet, the god of fertility. Later I
was tasked with being the protector of the Pharaohs.”

“Is that what the Sphinx was?”

“That was the artist’s impression of a later god, not very
flattering at that,” she said, and sighed. “We didn’t build it. Originally it
had a dog’s face.”

“But why did you come here?”

“Our mission was to seek out suitable planets to colonize. We
had specialists in all fields to build a new civilization. But then we found
primitive man. They were more numerous than we expected, and they could easily
have destroyed us by sheer weight of numbers, despite our technology. So, we
chose to lead them through guidance. Teaching them. Choosing leaders. Setting
up kingdoms. Improving their DNA to be more intelligent. But then some became
too intelligent, and devious. But to answer your earlier question, humans named
us gods. Quite flattering when you think about it, and it saved us from being
hunted down. We are far for being God, you can take comfort in that.”

Her form changed once more. Cleo’s skull elongated, her arms
became spindly. Her stomach formed a pouch beneath her dress, and she grew a
good six inches.

“In this form I was Nefertiti and others in history. This is
the host’s form that we have on our own planet in the Orion constellation,
shared with our true spirit, and which is blessed with everlasting life. When
our body dies, we seek new hosts to share our journey, and to provide
offspring. But it takes special hosts with special DNA sequences including some
hidden in the junk. Our brain capacity and memory in this form far exceeds
anything that you can imagine.”

Her features returned to being Cleo.

“Next you’ll be telling me you were Cleopatra.” Cleo lowered
her eyes, then smiled.

“Hmm. I’ve told you too much already. We’ve talked enough.
It’s time for you to join Fuller and to learn of his plans.”

He had questions. More questions than his brain could
handle. More questions than there was time for. She was right. He knew that time
was running out before Summers launched an assault on the silver mine. One
question stabbed away in his mind.

“Why Amy?”

“Her DNA. The tests confirm her offspring will be suitable
hosts.”

“What!”

“Yes, Amy is a chimera. Our tests on the material you
provided showed that your wife wasn’t her birth mother, but that you were the
father.”

“But I was right there at the birth!”