“Jennifer.” I offered no more.
“Jennifer, what?” he persisted. He must have had a clue, a notion already. I reckoned the game was up. “Watson.” I heard Hollister suck in her breath at the recognition of the name. Thyssen stood up, stared down at me.
“So, you’re Rock, huh?” he asked. I nodded once.
“He spoke very highly of you. The apple of your father’s eye, so to speak.” Even as he said the words, I could almost feel the contempt more than hear it in his voice. I figured the fact that my father turned on him was enough to make them enemies for life. Of course, Thyssen was the one responsible for shortening my dad’s life considerably.
“He said you were a prick,” I replied. Thyssen crooked up his mouth and half-nodded. Hollister tried unsuccessfully to prevent a snort. Thyssen ignored her.
“He had two doses. Did he give them both to you?” The man watched my face intently and I knew I had best not lie. It seemed like my fate was sealed along with my last name.
“No. My uncle got the other one, I think. We never talked about it.”
“Where is your uncle now?”
“Dead.”
“Too bad.”
“So,” I said, “I guess I got Telomere7, huh?” I still remembered my dad telling me that the inoculation was to protect against the flu. He had just come back from the lab. It was the day before the phone call to Thyssen that was to let him know that Thyssen was taking over and that dad was locked out. Thankfully, my dad was nothing if not a forward thinker and planner. Good old military training. He had already secured two doses of the better serum that the doctor had developed. Looking back, I know he wasn’t sure if the serum would help me or kill me quicker. At that point, it really hadn’t mattered.
“With this new dose of Nanomere9,” Thyssen said, “you’ll grow stronger by the day. Your immune system will be bolstered exponentially. It’s likely you could live a few hundred more years.”
“Will I?” I asked, knowing he had an axe to grind. He confirmed that with a raised eyebrow.
“Not really,” he replied.
“Hey, gramps,” Kel spoke up. “Mind untying me so I can take my turn at your decrepit old ass?”
Thyssen turned to Hollister. “I’ll send in the guards.” He left.
Hollister looked at us with a pitying look on her face. I turned my face to Kel. He smirked.
“I think we’ve come too far to give up now, don’t you?” he asked.
“Karen.” I peered into her eyes to stress my intent. “At least give us a fighting chance, okay?”
She didn’t move. She just stared at us. She wrung her hands and then wiped them on her lab coat. I could see there were a great many thoughts dancing around in her head. I could only pray she made the right choice.
She picked up a scalpel and walked toward us.
CHAPTER 9
Hollister cut through each of the straps as quickly as she could and Kel and I were free in less than two minutes. Kel rubbed at his nose but waved me off when I tried to have a look. We headed for the door and just as Hollister reached for it, two soldiers entered. I took the first one head-on, smashing his nose with my palm, driving upward in an effort to incapacitate him but not kill him. I had made a promise to Kel and I meant to keep it. Thyssen was our only true target.
The second soldier raised a rifle and Kel dived at him, catching his knees and super-extending them as the two men fell to the floor. The soldier screamed out in pain and a burst of rounds from the rifle tore through Hollister’s chest and head, then into the ceiling. I did not have to look back to know that Karen was dead.
Kel retrieved zip ties from the soldiers’ belts and we secured them inside the room before heading out into the hall. I noted a couple of lab technicians ducking into their labs. The hallway was otherwise empty. With the labs on one side, there were offices on the opposite side. The directly across from us had Thyssen’s name on it. Kel had taken one of the soldiers’ rifles. I nodded at the weapon and then indicated the office door. He smiled.
The bullets ripped into the door handle and tore into the doorjamb. Kel took a step back and I kicked in the door, ducking down on my knees as a follow-through. Sure enough, bullets slammed into the wall behind us. Kel opened fire above my head into the office, spraying the entire width. I leaped and rolled into the room, taking cover behind what looked to be a meeting table close to the door.
Kel sprayed fire into the room once again entered behind me. Before he could get down behind the table with me, I heard two successive shots and Kel spun, falling hard against me. He crumpled to the floor, blood flowing from his upper chest and shoulder.
“How’s he doing, Rock?” Thyssen asked from the opposite side of the room. “Is it bad?”
I ran a hand over the wounds and saw that both bullets were through and through. The bleeding is what I needed to address. I ripped away part of Kel’s shirt, wadding it into a ball and applying it to the wounds, which were no more than two inches apart. He grunted and looked up at me with pain-filled eyes.
“It’s up to you, I guess. I’m really sorry, Rock. I—“ He winced, cutting off his words.
“No worries, Kel.” I felt that old sense of familiarity that had tinged my memory cells on several occasions since I’d found him in my house. “This is what I came here for. Thank you for tagging along, even though you didn’t have to.”
“I’d follow you anywhere,” he said. Then he passed out. I laid him gently to the floor and turned my attention to the problem at hand.
“Thyssen,” I called out. “I owe you a sore jaw. Let’s say we do this the old-fashioned way. What do you think?” I wondered if his arrogance and over-developed sense of self-confidence would play to my benefit. If he were smart, he’d say no. Even though, he still had the advantage.
“Did your uncle ever teach you fencing?”
I frowned at the thought. This guy was not only a loon, he was a narcissistic poser. . Who else would opt for an anachronistic sword fight, except a person who wanted to demonstrate his cleverness and skill. Still, I needed to humor him, get him in the open where I would at least have a decent shot at a lucky blow.
“I’m familiar with blades, yes.” I was. That was no lie. It was just the majority of my experience lay with smaller blades. Still, Uncle Derrick had taught me a thing or two about swordplay; just not that much. I admit to not particularly caring for the fencing lessons Uncle D had forced upon me. To me it had been a waste of time. I guess fate was about to prove me wrong.
I heard some shuffling and a gun went sliding by me out into the hallway. It could be a ploy, though. Next, I heard the unmistakable sound of metal on metal and a beautiful saber came sliding into view.
“Ready when you are, young lady,” he said. I was really getting sick and tired of him calling me that.
“Fine.” I stood slowly, hoping he wouldn’t just blow my brains out. He was standing by his desk, a behemoth of shiny hardwood. Moving slowly, I stepped over Kel and retrieved the saber. I couldn’t help myself. I took a defensive stance and said, “En garde, you prick.”
Doctor Eliot Thyssen, murderer of the human race, actually smiled at me as he whipped his sword in the air. It cut the air with a hissing whistle and we were upon each other.
We traded parries and thrusts, lunges and ripostes. He was much better than me, I knew. After only a few passes, I realized he was just toying with me. I decided my only hope was to take unnecessary chances, draw him out, and see if I could throw him off balance and create an opening. He performed a lunge and I countered with a parry in quarte, turning slightly to the side, allowing his thrust to slide by me. At that moment, I swept up with my blade, knocking his into the air, and then swiping down. I was pleased to see the blood seeping down his chest as I moved backwards to end up in the en garde position once more.