Chapter 25

ID: 1762291   (Rated: 13+) Artifact Man  A thriller, new age, sci-fi novel about a strange man found in the desert. by Hyperiongate

ID: 1790096   (Rated: E) Chapter 24  Bombs Fall and JD11 drowns. by Hyperiongate

8:20 am, Friday, March 27th
A small hotel room in northern Reno

Rudolf took his eyes off the screen for a moment to look down at the pad strapped to his side. It was already starting to seep through. Hopefully, his meds would help with the clotting. He didn’t have time to wait for it to do anything more than stop bleeding.

Things were happening too fast.

He looked back up his screen; tapping the “enter” button as he cycled through the hospital’s cameras. It certainly looked like they’d had an exciting morning. While he couldn’t tell exactly what had taken place, there was no doubt that his “target” was as the center of the action.

Nothing else would have caused the commotion that took place about five hours ago.

After a rough night, Rudolf had returned to his room and decided to look in on the hospital activity. He couldn’t believe it when the first person he saw in the lobby was the infamous Colonel Lanier. The Colonel was having a conversation with Jack Barton. Rudolf didn’t have access to any sound but he safely guessed that he was part of their conversation.

It was almost a certainty that they’d discovered that Sheriff Tucker was missing. Once that information was out, they’d step up security significantly. Rudolf knew he’d have to act quickly.

But Lanier’s presence in the hospital was only part of the morning’s intrigue. The hospital kept a running 12-hour history in its video surveillance data server. Rudolf had only to scroll backwards about five hours to find an event that didn’t fit – Five large men with rifles charging through the lobby. He scrolled backwards a few minutes at a time and soon he saw Dr. Marshal and Jack Barton sprinting through the lobby.

Rudolf began scanning through the various cameras and came across a room on the second floor that seemed to be the center of all the activity. A nurse came running out and then running back with a “janitor” in tow. Marshal and Barton arrive, closely followed by the rifles. Right behind them came a pair of nurses with a crash cart. Soon, other doctors began to arrive.
It was fascinating to watch. Overall, it amounted to a giant sign pointing to whomever all that fuss was about.

Then he found what he was looking for. The wheeled a man out of the room on a gurney. He didn’t appear to be dead as several attendants were monitoring him as they moved down the hallway. The patient was taken to a room at the far end of the hallway. Room 2201.

That was all he needed to know.

Rudolf made note of the room number and then began to formulate his plan. Another glace at the pad on his side told him this might be a one-way trip. The pain meds were masking the impact he knew the wound was having on him.

Eight hours earlier…

Rudolf was waiting for him when he got home. An easy feat since the Sheriff’s “tail” followed him to and from work; leaving the small house empty during the day. The house was still under surveillance of sort, but with the human element attached to the sheriff, the professional had only to circumvent a single motion sensor in order to have free reign of the house.

His target arrived less than thirty minutes later.

Sam had just finished another day of paperwork associated with sheriffing in a small city. Every since the death of his wife, He’d found less and less joy in his daily life. Frankly, he was bored – more specifically, he saw no reason to do anything. What was the use? She was gone and with her went his motivation.

He’d welcomed the recent excitement brought on by the man found in the desert, but even that had dulled over the last few days. Sam knew his life was in a downward spiral; mostly because he also knew he didn’t care.

Sam reached for the door and hesitated. Something didn’t feel right. Sam took a couple of steps back and examined the front porch. He was careful not to alarm the goons he knew to be following him. If there was something that needed to be taken care of, he’d be the one to do it. This was his home, not theirs.

Everything appeared to be in order, still…

Sam reached again for the handle and then quickly pushed the door open and stepped inside. Once again, everything appeared to be in order. The feeling stayed with him so Sam drew his pistol and walked back towards his bedroom.

Rudolf’s gun spit once and Sam found himself unarmed.

“I suppose you’re the assassin I’ve been told to keep a lookout for,” said Sam, not missing a beat as he walked over to take a seat in the corner of the room.

“Sheriff, you’ve been listening to too many of Colonel Lanier’s fairy tales. I’m actually here to protect you; to protect all of us from that creature in the hospital.”

“That a fact,” said the sheriff. “Seems you’re awful quick with that gun of yours to be too worried about my welfare. I’m not sure I can take much more saving from you.”

The assassin studied the old man curiously. He saw no fear. He saw no anger. He saw…nothing.

In an instant, Rudolf realized this was not going to go the way he’d intended. A man with nothing to lose was the most dangerous, unpredictable foe one could face.

He brought his gun up to end the all-too-brief interview. It was a shame to have to kill this man now. But it was clear that the Sheriff was much more likely to be a threat than a source of information.

The old man moved with such speed that Rudolf was barely able to get a shot off.
In an instant, a knife flew across the room, entering Rudolf’s lower chest. At the same time, a red circle appeared on the sheriff’s forehead where the assassin’s bullet had struck home.

Sam wavered a moment before collapsing to the floor. Rudolf slowly pulled the knife out and began to check his vital signs. There didn’t seem to be an overabundance of blood although there was enough to let him know that he’d need to take care of this before too long.

He stabbed an auto-injector directly into the wound to take care of potential infection and administer a slight amount of pain killer. He pulled out a small bag of anti-coagulant material and stuffed it into the wound as well. Next he stuffed in a cotton ball and then stapled the wound closed.

Not according to plan but really nothing more than a small bump in his plans. His plan could have used a little refinement but since the sheriff had been less than accommodating, he’d have to be prepared to improvise as needed.

Ten minutes later, Rudolf was out of the house and well on his way to rendezvous with a doctor that charged premium rates for not asking questions or remembering faces.

Now, eight hours later, Rudolf was nearly ready to strike.

The patient looked to be secure in a room on the second floor. Whatever had happened down there at the hospital had served to cause Lanier’s men to show their hand. Rudolf counted three men dressed as janitors as well as six other men that came from outside of the hospital. Rudolf watched when they left the building and went back “undercover.”

Rudolf noted with satisfaction that they went back to the vans he’d originally tagged as the most likely place for them to be.

A knock on his door told him his “groceries” had arrived. Hopefully, his man had been able to get everything on the list. It wouldn’t do to go into battle less than fully armed.

10:00 am, Friday, March 27th
Artifact Base

Lanier stood outside of the Artifact building. He watched as the ordinance specialist continued to scratch their heads over the failure of the bombs to detonate. The colonel had his own ideas about what was at the bottom of this “lack of an event.”

That Artifact, floating in the building behind him had done…something.

He didn’t know the How’s or Why’s but he had little doubt that he was right.

Finally, one of the experts came over and saluted sharply before, “Sir, my men have disarmed the ordinance. We’ll have to take this back to the armoury to find out exactly what happened here. At first blush, all I can tell you is that you should be dead. There is nothing obviously wrong with the mechanisms. All of the firing circuits are fine. The detonators also test positive. I’m sure we’ll find out more once we take them apart.”

“Don’t be too sure Captain,” said Lanier.

“Why do you say that, Colonle?”

Before Lanier could answer, Dr. Szokoly burst out of the Artifact building. Once it became clear that the bombs hadn’t gone off, the doctor had returned to the base, immediately going in to check on his “baby.”

“Colonel…”

“I know, I know, I’m not going to believe this,” said Lanier feeling the frustration of an all too busy day; and it was only ten in the morning.

“Sir, it’s the Artifact…I think it’s dead.”

ID: 1812731   (Rated: 18+) Chapter 26  The exciting finale to Part One. by Hyperiongate