Guise, p.19
Guise, page 19
“Look, I picked him up at some DARPA annex. I’ve done work with them before. This was supposed to be a four-day field test. He had a list of people he was supposed to try the system on with information he was supposed to get from them.
“Instead, he spends his time stalking his old college girlfriend who you just had wasted. Creep used the thing on her. You can guess what for.
“He’d apparently been hitting on the Asian chick at his work for weeks without success. However, one dose of laser eyes and magic serum lips, and she’s coming over to his place to help him live out some fanboy S&M fantasy.”
“And you helped him with this?” asked Veronica disgustedly.
“You know how it can be,” replied Patience. “You don’t always get to pick the assignment. And I didn’t have a choice with this one. It was payback for an old debt.”
“The kidnapping?” asked Veronica.
Patience could see Veronica was having a hard time swallowing the story, but it went down easier than tales of psychic possession. Now, if she could just get this part right, she might be able to get herself, Darwin, and maybe even Bo out of this situation alive.
Then she could work on vengeance for Yoki.
“Israeli intelligence.
“One of the people on his list is an agent for the Israelis. Only no one apparently knows that. After she saw how well the system worked, she decided it would be better off in their hands. Rather than blow her cover, she decided to have you pick him up and hand deliver him. If anyone came looking, it would appear to be just another missing person case. Just like you arranged it.
“Problem is she didn’t know about me, just my cover story. And now here we are.”
Patience waited, seeing if Veronica would believe enough of her story to keep talking or if she would dismiss it out of hand and have them all killed.
Veronica lowered her gun.
Patience relaxed.
“That is one hell of a story, sweetie,” said Veronica, slowly walking towards Patience. “However, there are two things wrong with it.
“First, the man,” she said, emphasizing the pronoun, “is a guy I have dealt with before.”
Veronica stopped five feet from Patience, looking her in the eyes. Patience tensed, getting ready for one last desperate attempt to try and save them.
“Second, if your story was true, what makes you think I would let any of you out of here alive?
“Jess!” barked Veronica.
Patience surged to her feet, lunging for Veronica, knowing she was too far away. Too late.
Veronica turned and fired at Darwin.
CHAPTER 26
“No!”
The sepulchral sound thundered in the open space, reverberating and shaking the distant walls. For Veronica and her people, the word stabbed into their minds and each felt as if their soul had been brushed by a loathsome slime.
Darwin was snapped out of his melancholy by the sound. For him, the word was tinged with a familiar light feeling hidden beneath the ominous overtones. Something that, strangely, gave him hope.
Bo felt the menace of the word wash over her before being overwhelmed and mercifully passing out.
Patience registered the sound but felt none of the effects endured by the others. As they stood frozen, she dove forward and scooped up her pistol. She dashed over to Darwin, intent on dragging him, aside only to see the chair he was strapped to slide five feet to the right.
The thickening of the air that had accompanied the sound lasted for an eternity of seconds before it popped like a soap bubble and things were back to normal.
With the return to normality came the echoes of weapons fired. Jess’ shot flew over Bo’s head before she dropped her rifle in horror. Veronica’s shot passed through the space where Darwin had been seconds before.
Veronica and her people looked around, searching for the source of the voice. Darwin shook his head, as if trying to clear it of unwanted thoughts. Patience moved to him and started slicing the cable ties away with her finger blade.
“Enough of this charade,” intoned the menacing voice at a merely loud volume. At the same time, the words resounded in the minds of Veronica and her people. Darwin just heard a mental buzzing while Patience alone just heard the words with her ears.
All eyes turned to Yoki’s corpse.
Yoki Benally opened her eyes. The tape binding her body turned to ash and blew away on a non-existent wind. The chain about her snapped apart and fell to the floor. Yoki stood up and stretched, working the kinks out of her body after such a long period of confinement.
She turned to face the group and smiled a very disquieting smile.
“Those responsible will be made to pay for this,” said the voice, coming from Yoki’s mouth.
“You’re dead,” breathed Jess, unbelievingly.
“No little blank,” replied Yoki, turning to face her. She raised her hand toward Jess and made a grabbing motion. Jess clawed at her neck. Yoki raised her arm. Jess was slowly lifted into the air. When she was ten feet up, Yoki snapped her hand to the side. Jess’ neck made a cracking sound and her lifeless body fell to the floor.
Yoki breathed in deeply.
“What’s going on?” asked Darwin.
“Damn good question,” agreed Veronica, backing up and pointing her pistol at Yoki.
“Darwin?” asked Yoki in a quavering voice that was all her own. Her eyes were a mixture of fright and confusion.
“Not so fast abomination,” said Patience, stepping between Yoki and Darwin, and aiming her pistol at Yoki’s chest.
“What are you doing?” asked Darwin, standing and trying to move around Patience.
“Protecting you from that,” said Patience, stepping to the side to keep herself between Darwin and Yoki.
“That’s Yoki,” said Darwin. “We came here to rescue her. Remember?”
“That is not Yoki,” stated Patience flatly.
“Darwin?” asked Yoki, looking around. “What’s going on?”
“I’d like to know what’s going on myself,” said Veronica, signaling her people to gather at a point near where April and Sheryl lay. “I saw Jess put you down. Now I see you pull a Vader on her?”
“She’s not human,” offered Patience. “She was, but not anymore. How long have you been in there, creature?”
Yoki looked around at all the people facing her. Abruptly her demeanor changed. Where a frightened woman on the verge of tears had once been, now was a woman standing tall and defiant. Yoki arrogantly looked around the group. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the pole she had been chained to.
“Subterfuge no longer serves my purpose,” stated Yoki in the rumbling voice both heard and felt that she had used before.
“Who are you?” asked Patience.
“You may call me Herald, Patience Anastasia Isis Niazi,” replied the Herald, using Yoki’s mouth.
“Yoki?” asked Darwin in disbelief.
“Not anymore,” said Patience. “She’s been taken over by an Invader.”
“Not so, little agent,” answered the Herald. “Your Yoki Benally is still very much alive in here. She is strong. Stronger than you know.
“And her thoughts and memories of you Darwin Angus Mendelson,” continued the Herald, turning Yoki’s gaze on Darwin. She let out a long throaty sigh.
“Such rich multi-layered memories. The things she wishes she had done, or that you had done to her that she hopes will one day come to pass. So exquisite in their complexity and fullness. Should I share a few?”
“Leave her alone!” shouted Darwin.
The entity laughed. A robust cheery bellow filled with mirth, accompanied by a psychic screech that scraped the soul.
“Such affection for one so long removed from your life Darwin Angus Mendelson. Could it be you recognize that you two should be together? Come, willingly give yourself over to me and host our Liege. Together, the two of us can rule this dimension!”
Darwin’s eyes grew wide as they focused on Yoki. He started to shuffle towards her, when Patience’s hand on his shoulder stopped him dead in his tracks. He shook himself and stood blinking as if waking.
“So that’s what’s been going on,” said Patience to herself. “Yoki’s a projecting empath.”
“You cannot shield him from me forever agent!” spat the Herald, face twisted into an angry mask filled with loathing.
“I only need to shield him as long as you are around,” replied Patience. “And I can fix that.”
Patience raised her gun and fired.
“No,” screamed Darwin, throwing himself at Patience.
The Herald casually brushed a hand to the side, as if shooing away a noisome fly. Patience’s bullet veered away from the Herald’s face and smacked into the tattooed woman’s chest. The woman let out a strangled cry and collapsed.
“That is the last of my people you get to kill,” barked Veronica. “Take her down ladies!”
Before Veronica or any of her people could fire, their guns were torn from their hands. Misato cried out as her trigger finger was ripped from her hand along with her weapon. The weapons clattered onto the floor well behind Yoki.
“You and yours are becoming bothersome Veronica Mildred Anne Smith. Leave me.”
The group of women disappeared. All that was left from the team of kidnappers were April and Sheryl, where they were trapped, laying on the ground.
“You disintegrated them,” said Darwin awed.
“Not quite Darwin Angus Mendelson. I merely sent them where they will vex me no further.”
“And where is that?” he asked.
“They are enjoying the luxuries they so willingly impose on others. Although, I do not believe the cells they use were intended to hold so many in one. Their misfortune.”
“Enough talk, Monster,” said Patience.
“Why is that?” asked the Herald, standing up and slowly strolling between the desks around her. “Is it because you do not wish for Darwin Angus Mendelson to know the truth?”
“What truth?” asked Darwin.
“Don’t listen to its lies,” warned Patience.
“The truth about her so-called invasion,” stated the Herald. “I am certain she told you a convincing story about how we steal bodies and devour memories like vampires drinking blood, but what evidence did she offer?”
Darwin looked at Patience who stood glaring at the Herald.
“What if I told you that we are not invaders, but travelers seeking a partnership with beings such as yourself? A symbiotic relationship that benefits us both.”
“What if I told you that I share this vessel with your Yoki Benally? That she has given me access to her memories so that I can better understand her, and your world. That in exchange, I allow her to use some of my life force for effects that you would term psychic powers.”
“What if I told you that your Patience Anastasia Isis Niazi works for a group of extraterrestrial beings’ intent on making your planet a slave world in their empire, but that they cannot do that if we help your people? This is the real motive behind her opposing us, and stopping you from reaping the benefits a partnership with one of us would give you.”
Patience looked at Darwin, ready to refute the Herald’s claims, but stopped herself. He stood there, confused concentration written all over his face.
“So, you would willingly leave Yoki’s body if she requested?” asked Darwin.
“Of course,” replied the Herald. “However, it is not as simple a process as stepping through a door. We have become entwined since our merging and a precipitous departure would shock, and potentially damage, Yoki Benally. For me to leave would be something to be carried out over time, and at her request.”
“Uh huh,” said Darwin, not sounding convinced. “So why did you kill those two women? And why did you say we could rule this dimension if you are only here as a traveler with intentions of helping us?
“In fact,” he continued more firmly. “If you are a partner with Yoki, let her talk to me and assure me herself that what you are saying is true.”
“You arrogant insect!” roared the Herald. It smashed a fist onto one of the desks, shattering the tablet arm. “If you were not such a prize for our Liege, I would dispose of you where you stand.”
“Like I would let that happen,” stated Patience.
“Do you really think you can stop me agent? I am not like others you have encountered.”
“I don’t know,” said Patience offhandedly. “If you were as powerful as you suggest, you wouldn’t be trying to trick Darwin into cooperating or stalling for time in order to recover, and you certainly wouldn’t be stymied by a simple girl, but have overwhelmed her personality and taken full control of her body by now.”
“Leaving Yoki Benally alive, still serves a purpose,” snarled the Herald. “It gives me leverage over Darwin Angus Mendelson. His is the perfect vessel for our Liege and I will see that he gets it.”
The Herald turned his full attention to Darwin.
“Hear me, Darwin Angus Mendelson. Either present yourself three nights hence at the appointed place, or I will give this vessel over to our Liege. He will not be as forgiving as I.”
“You’re bluffing,” blustered Darwin. “Without a body, you can’t stay in this world and you’d never willing kill yourself.”
“Who said anything about not having a body,” said the Herald. He placed a hand on Bo’s shoulder.
Darwin’s eyes widened.
“This one, while not as ideal a host as Yoki Benally, has power. Would you like to know what Bodacious Olivia Nguyen has been doing with that power and why?”
“Leave her alone!”
“You seem to have a great affection for these females Darwin Angus Mendelson. The time to prove how much draws near.”
The Herald grabbed Bo by her bound ankles and started to levitate into the air. As the Herald looked upwards, Patience started walking forward, firing her gun as she went.
Her shots slammed into Yoki’s shoulder and upper arm, tearing chunks from them. She smoothly popped open the cylinder and expelled her spent brass on her last shot. Finished, she used a speed loader and continued her attack.
The Herald stopped rising and looked down at Patience. With a nauseating tearing sound, the mutilated remains of Yoki’s arm stretched and parted. Bo and arm fell to the desk Bo had been laying on.
Darwin turned away, throwing up.
The Herald raised Yoki’s remaining arm and Patience’s final shots stopped in mid-air, feet from her, before falling harmlessly to the ground.
“I am not some initiate, new to my gifts and easily tricked into overusing them,” spat the Herald, stopping the flow of blood from the ragged wound at Yoki’s shoulder.
“Darwin Angus Mendelson! When you have decided, contact your Yoki Benally. She will tell you where and when to meet so that you can greet your fate. Fail, and she will be the host for our Liege.”
Looking down, the Herald continued.
“I will find another. You may have this Bodacious Olivia Nguyen for now. She will join our ranks soon enough once our Liege is here.
“There is more going on here than you have been told, Darwin Angus Mendelson. More players in the game than you know of. Your role extends beyond that of host for our Liege.
“Ask yourself this: If Patience Anastasia Isis Niazi’s mission for her alien masters is to prevent our Liege from crossing into this dimension, and she is willing to sacrifice your friend in her zeal to accomplish this, what else might she be willing to sacrifice?
“How much do you really know about her and her goals?”
The Herald vanished in an implosion of air and a flare of brilliant violet light.
CHAPTER 27
The Herald appeared in the small conference room. The lights were off and the door was closed. He walked to the head of the table and pulled out a chair with his remaining arm. Collapsing into the seat he faced the door and waited.
Within a minute, a petite blonde opened the door and turned on the lights. She began placing handouts around the table.
“You will summon our people,” said the Herald quietly.
The blonde squeaked in surprise, dropping her remaining handouts. Facing the Herald, she nodded vigorously and fled from the room.
Within minutes, people began to hurry into the conference room. The seats furthest from the Herald filled up first. People were reluctant to sit so close to one so powerful.
And volatile.
After five minutes, the last person came into the room. The Herald looked around as his brow creased in displeasure.
“Perhaps I was unclear,” he broadcast, not bothering to speak. “I want everyone here. Now!”
Two people at the table slumped to the side, passing out from the force of the Herald’s mental broadcast. Everyone else in the room winced in pain at the brutality of the transmitted thought. Those who had not heeded the summons or had not received it cried out in agony. Each dropped whatever they were doing and headed for the conference room as quickly as they could.
One person requested a delay so he could finish surgery. His death screams as his host self-immolated encouraged the remaining individuals to redouble their efforts to reach the conference room.
Bahador was the last to make it to the conference room. He closed the door behind him, standing with his back to it. The room was crowded with almost a score and a half of people nervously shifting in anxiety.
The Herald rose.
The fidgeting stopped and the background murmur of conversation ceased.
He took a moment to look at the faces assembled. Most refused to meet his eyes. Those that did, did so for only a moment before looking away.
No one mentioned, or even thought about, his lack of an arm.
“Can anyone tell me why the eve of one of our greatest triumphs is rapidly turning into the dawn of one of our greatest defeats?” he asked the assembled group.
