Chapter 26

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

ID: 1792377   (Rated: 18+) Chapter 25  Rudolf has a confrontation with Sheriff Tucker. by Hyperiongate

Saturday, March 28th, 7:00 a.m.

Annie

Annie stopped by to peak in on “him.” She no longer thought of him as her patient or JD11. Now he was a real person. She knew he’d always been such, but now that she could actually reach out and touch him, everything seemed different.

He still “talked” with her but only in her sleep. Every afternoon, after waking up in preparation for her night shift, she’d write down everything she could remember from her dreams. This created a much more fragmented conversation between them; still, she got the gist.

“Change is coming.”

That was the basic message he seemed to be sending to her.

She stood for a few minutes at the foot of his bed. She didn’t get to see him for most of her shift, now that he was out of the tank. That event had changed a few things. First of all, there was a guard posted in the room at all times. He was posing as a patien in the other bed of the two-bed recovery room.

The second change had been that Annie had been moved to other duties. JD11 was not deemed to be in such critical condition as he was while in the tank. He no longer required constant monitoring. His recovery was still uncertain, although the prognosis was good. Still, he was kept in an induced coma while his body dealt with the shock of coming out of the tank.

Annie looked his face. It was that of a handsome twenty-something-year-old man. His hair had begun to grow out. Interestingly, it was pure white. She could see how he might appear older as the hair grew even more.

Annie captured one final look and then headed down to the cafeteria. Her shift was over, but she wasn’t ready to go home just yet. Something told her to hand around a bit longer. She’d come to trust these “intuitive” thoughts with respect. She assumed they came from him.

Dr. Szokoly

Dr. Szokoly watched as the last straps were placed around the Artifact. The whole thing had a surreal feeling to it. Less than two days before, the Artifact had floated in the containment chamber as immobile as possible. After two weeks of observation, there was no reason to suspect it would ever be different.

Then everything had changed.

The Artifact had acted up and, in the end, died.

Lanier had been quick to act. He had no idea if the Artifact would stay dead or not. So he took this opportunity to get it moved to the secure underground labs at Nellis Air Force Base. The top had been taken off of the chamber in preparation for the helicopter airlift.

To Szokoly it looked vulnerable. It had gone from being a window into the “infinite” to being little more than a chunk of something akin to a big, polished rock. By any measurement he was able to make with what he still had on hand at the base, the Artifact appeared to be completely inert.

Szokoly looked up at the sound of the helicopter coming in from the east. It was a huge beast capable of lifting a tank off of a battlefield. It lowered a cable that was quickly attached to the straps that encircled the Artifact. Szokoly held his breath as the helicopter took up the slack. A part of him was anxious to get the Artifact to the more capable labs of Nellis. Still, another part of him wanted the Artifact to be too heavy to carry; as if it still had the power to defy movement from its chosen home here in the desert. He wanted it to still be more than it was.

After a brief moment to recheck strained connections, a “thumbs up” was given from the ground crew and the Artifact was lifted easily out of its nest. The helicopter turned south and headed towards Nellis.

Szokoly lowered his head for a moment, surprise by the sudden surge of sadness. The Artifact had been trying to tell him, to tell everyone, something. They had just been too primitive to understand.

He looked over to where his own helicopter waited. With one final look at the now topless Artifact structure, he turned and headed towards his ride.

Colonel Wes Lanier

The Colonel stuck around Artifact base just long enough to make sure the thing was hauled away successfully. Unless something dramatic happened, and he wasn’t ruling that out, it looked as if this part of the mystery was over; unresolved. They might get lucky and find out something back at the lab but his experience with these unexplained phenomena was that they tended to either give up secrets quickly, or not at all.

The other part of his mystery lay in the Intensive Care ward of Renown Medical Center. He’d been in touch with his people there so he was up-to-date on events. JD11, his potential answer-to-everything, was currently in a coma and would stay that way for days, perhaps weeks.

The Colonel pointed his SUV towards Reno. He wanted to be there when his patient woke up.

He also wanted to follow up with Jack Barton with regards to Sheriff Tucker. He’d called yesterday after Jack expressed some concern. His people had told him the sheriff was home safe and sound. They hadn’t called in with any problem so far today so there was probably nothing to worry about.

Lanier didn’t overlook the fact that the Artifact incident and JD11’s emergency at the hospital seemed extraordinarily coincidental. He had little doubt the two were linked. The colonel was looking forward to having some one-on-one time with the strange man that grew out of the desert sand.

The Colonel felt is as he pulled onto Highway 50. Something was happening. He didn’t know what, exactly, but his foot pressed the accelerator to the floor as he reached for his cell phone. Something bad was about to go down and he was too far away to stop it. Still, he had to try.

The phone rang before he could even dial the first number.

“Colonel, the Sheriff has been killed.”

Rudolf!

The colonel knew Rudolf wouldn’t have taken the risk of taking out the sheriff unless he was ready to throw all of his cards on the table. That meant the hospital was next.

Without waiting for another word, he hung up and dialed the patrols at the hospital, hoping he wasn’t too late.


Jack Barton

Jack finished off the last bit of coffee and then began tidying up the kitchen. Lise had left for work over an hour ago. If he hadn’t convinced her to take some time to get some sleep, she would have stayed the night, fretting over the welfare of a patient that seemed capable of surviving just about anything.

Jack planned on stopping by the Sheriff’s home to see how his friend was doing. Normally, he would just meet him down at his office but Jack knew that Sam tried to take Saturdays completely off from work. It was an old tradition insisted upon by his wife, and maintained by Sam since her death.

As his visit with Sam entered his thought process, Jack could feel his body beginning to rev up as if something threatening was in the room. He paused and let the feeling take shape…nothing. He was alone.

His thoughts again went to Sam. The feelings of apprehension returned.

“Sam’s in trouble,” Jack said out loud to no one. He tossed down the dishtowel he’d been using and rushed to get his keys.

Minutes later, Jack was speeding down the road into town.

Lise Marshal

Something was wrong. Lise didn’t know what it was but she could feel it.

There was trouble coming.

Her mind went to her patient as she looked down at his chart. She’d ready it twice since she’d come to work about an hour earlier. She studied the sheet of data carefully, certain that she was missing something. There had to be something that was causing this feeling of anxiety and what could it be besides JD11?

Nothing. The chart showed nothing other than a patient well on his way to being the healthiest person in the hospital. She wasn’t even sure his induced coma was necessary. She’d made a mental note to discuss that with her staff later that morning.

Satisfied that her patient was in no danger, Lise let her mind drift to the other “man” in her life. Almost immediately, the feelings returned.

“It’s Jack!” she thought; picking up the phone to give him a call. She needed to hear his voice. She needed to hear him to tell her everything was all right.

“Hi, Lise. Listen, can I call you back?”

She could hear it in his voice. “Jack, what is it? Something’s happened. I can feel it. Are you alright?”

Jack said nothing for a moment. He was standing in Sam Tucker’s front room. The two agents had come running over from their observation car as soon as Jack had emerged from the house and waved them over. Now, they were combing the house, guns drawn.

Jack could feel the fear. He looked down at his dead friend and somehow understood that this was just the beginning. Things were about to get bad; very bad.

He didn’t want to scare Lise, but she needed to know. She needed to be on alert.

“Lise, I’m at Sam’s house. He’s been killed. The colonel’s men are here now. I’ll be on my way to the hospital in just a few minutes. I think you’d better make sure the guards know about this.”

Rudolf

He stepped out of the McDonalds and casually looked to the right and left. Nothing caught his trained eye. He walked three cars to his left and climbed into a white Corolla. No one noticed that it wasn’t the same care he’d arrived in fifteen minutes earlier. In fact, this was his third vehicle so far today.

His first had been a banged up truck that he’d left in the Emergency Room parking lot, right next to the van he knew held at least three of Colonel Lanier’s men. He’d limped into the emergency room, clearly in pain. After a quick visit to the bathroom, he’s walked back out the same door, completely unrecognizable as the truck’s owner.

Rudolf’s second vehicle of the day was waiting from him near the front of the hospital. He’d take that to the McDonald’s where his Corolla waited with its trunk filled with everything he would need to bring the hospital to its knees.

He checked his watch. He didn’t want to get there too early. The guards had a tendency to overlap shifts slightly. Ten minutes ahead of schedule and he’d be facing twice as many men as he’d planned for.

He parked across the street from the hospital and waited. Rudolf closed his eyes and gave thanks for the opportunity before him. Yes, innocent people would die, but that was not his fault. The beast had chosen this time and place. He was the one who had chosen to try and hide amongst the innocent. People would die, but if they were without sin, they had nothing but glory to look forward to.

Rudolf would kill without hesitation or regret. The beast would not give him a second chance.

His reverie was broken by his cell phone ringing.

“They found him.”

Rudolf sighed. So Sheriff Tucker’s demise was no longer a secret. The assassin could have used a few more minutes of prayer, but now the trigger had been pulled. If he knew, then Lanier knew. That meant it would only be a few minutes before those guarding the hospital knew as well.

Rudolf pulled onto the street and sped the last hundred yards to the hospital. He swung sharply right, and sped towards the front door. Screeching brakes announced his arrival to everyone. He was out of the car and digging into the trunk before the first nurse came running out to see what was going on.

He shot her without hesitation. Rudolf next pulled a small electronic device from his pocket. He dialed in a quick code and then pressed the red button on top. The truck parked next to the security van around back exploded in a giant fireball, taking out several surrounding cars with it.

So much for at least one of Lanier’s teams, he thought as he pulled an RPG out of the trunk. He swung quickly to his left and sited in the van where the second of Lanier’s teams was headed out. The back door swung open as Rudolf fired the RPG. The van lifted several feet of the ground and landed, a burning hulk.
Scratch team number two, Rudolf whispered to himself and he reached back into the trunk and pulled out a large satchel of weapons and ammunition.

The front doors to the hospital flung open as people ran out to see what the hell was going on. Rudolf pointed his AK-47 at the crowd and they parted like the Red Sea. The assassin strode into the hospital. Even with two teams taken out in the first few seconds, he knew the battle had only just begun. There was confusion everywhere, but not enough to hide amongst.

Rudolf saw an orderly point his way. It wasn’t hard to understand how he stood out; armed as he was. He pulled a couple of smoke grenades off his vest and tossed one down each of the two corridors leading out of the lobby. Soon, no one would stand out.

Rudolf pulled a gas mask on and then headed down the corridor to the left. He didn’t need to be able to see to know where he was going. There was a stairwell just past the Emergency room. That was the most direct route to his target.

Jack heard the blast before he saw the smoke. Although he was still a block away, he knew what it was. This was what Lanier had been warning him about. Sam’s death was just the beginning. He was still a block away when the second explosion signaled the end of Lanier’s outside guard.

He pulled into the parking lot unsure about only one thing. He needed to get to the assassin. Lise would run to JD11’s room at the first sign of an attack. She knew as well as Jack did that her patient would be the target. The internal guards would also head there. And, Jack thought, so will the assassin.

Jack needed to keep that from happening. He knew he was getting ready to go after a trained assassin, but Jack wasn’t without skills of his own. Even though all of the action seemed to be taking place at the front of the hotel, Jack knew the quickest way to JD11’s room, and thus to Lise, was up the stairwell near the emergency room.

As he pulled around the back of the hospital, Jack was momentarily stunned by the carnage Rudolf’s car bomb had inflicted. There was a huge hole in the pavement and several nearby cars were on fire. While he’d definitely had seen worse during his time in Iraq, it was something else to see the back lot of a modern hospital turned into a war zone.

Jack pulled up to the Emergency room entrance and was out of his car before it came to a complete stop. He cut through the emergency room admissions office and burst into the hallway where the entrance to the stairwell was.

That was when he came face to face with the assassin, Rudolf.

Jack knew he had a slight advantage. He knew that Rudolf was dangerous. Rudolf, on the other hand, didn’t know anything about the man he’d just come upon in the hallway.

Rudolf was heavily armed, with an AK47 at the ready. Jack feigned fear, throwing his hands up in the air and backing up against the wall.

Rudolf, satisfied Jack was no threat, prepared to hurry past him on the way to his target. Then something stopped him. He was right in front of Jack, who stood against the wall to his left. Rudolf’s instinct made him stop. Something was not quite right about this man. He wasn’t who he seemed to be.

Rudolf turned slowly to face Jack. Thoughts raced through his head. Who was this guy? He knew the face from somewhere. Jack Barton! Trained ex-Navy Seal!

The assassin moved to bring his gun up to bear on this new threat when Jack struck first. He grabbed the barrel of the assault rifle as it came up. The gun fired into the ceiling as Jack pushed it over his head. At the same time, he brought his knee up hard into Rudolf’s lower rib cage.

Rudolf went down hard. Even though he was wearing protective armor under his top, the blow had come very close to the knife wound Sheriff Tucker had inflicted only hours ago. He shoved the pain away and went on the offensive. There was no way he was going to let this amateur stop him from completing his mission.

Jack, unaware of the knife wound, was momentarily caught off guard by how quickly the assassin dropped. He hesitated a moment, now feeling like he had the advantage. After all, he now has the gun and his opponent was lying at his feet.

A knife appeared in Rudolf’s hand. With a quick sweep of his right leg, he took out Jack’s feet. Jack landed on his back stunned by the swiftness of the assassin’s move. It took him another moment to notice he now had a knife sticking out of his shoulder.

Ignoring the knife for the moment, Jack struck out at Rudolf’s throat. A killing blow that nearly hit its mark.

Rudolf deflected the attack at the last moment and rolled away. He stumbled slightly as he got to his feet. That misstep turned out to be a bit of luck as the knife that was in Jack’s shoulder a moment earlier flashed by his face and stuck in the wall next to him.

Jack was on his feet and swinging. Rudolf took an elbow to his ear and instinctively spun with the blow; his back leg striking out in a powerful spinning-back-hook kick that caught jack on the chin.

Jack went down a second time. This time, as he started to get up, he found himself facing the barrel of a gun.

Rudolf shot him twice in the chest; taking Jack out of the ga;e.

Jack fell backward; his last thought was for Lise. He’d let her down. Then darkness took him.

Rudolf was on his way up the stairs before Jack hit the ground. He’d lost precious minutes, time that wouldn’t be wasted by the three marines he knew were on the next floor.

He paused in the stairwell next to the door on the second floor and reached into a vest pocket. He pulled out a second remote detonator. He knew that protocol would send a marine to each of the two stairwells, on at each end of the long second-floor corridor. The third marine would no doubt stay in near the Dark Angle.

Rudolf slowly lowered himself to the floor. From out of his satchel, he pulled a small scope which he slide under the bottom of the door. Through this device, he would be unable to see the far end of the hallway, but he did have a clear view of what was just on the other side of his door.
At first, he was surprised to find no one there. Then, on a second sweep, he spied the dim shadow projected onto the shinny floor from the first room on the right. There was his man. That meant the other marine was probably in a similar place at the far end of the corridor.

Rudolf flipped the switch on the detonator and a huge explosion rocked the building. The explosive he’d set the night before was easily big enough to take out whomever was within twenty feet of that far stairwell.

That left just two between Rudolf and his target.

The marine in the nearby room emerged with the explosion, wrongly assuming the attack was coming from the far side of the hospital. Rudolf shouldered the door open and cut the marine down from behind.

One more to go, he thought. A moment later, something took out his left leg.

Rudolf knew he’d been hit – hard. Instinctively, he laid down a barrage of gunfire and followed with percussion and smoke grenades. In a flash, visibility dropped to zero and the corridor became eerily quiet.

Rudolf felt his leg. This was bad. A large chunk was missing from his left thigh. The bone didn’t appear to be broken but that was really unimportant. The damage had been done. Rudolf was not going to be able to use that leg again. He injected a dose of morphine and tightened a tourniquet just about the gaping wound. Satisfied that he’d done all he could do, the assassin grabbed his gun and started pulling himself along the floor.

There was only fifty yards to go. Fifty yards and one more marine.

+++++

At the sound of the first explosion, Lise was up and moving. All day she’d had the feeling that something was about to happen. When it did, she didn’t hesitate. She reached JD11’s bedside just as Rudolf shot Jack. The sergeant Jackson already had things well in hand. JD11’s bed was pushed behind some cabinets. The bed the marine had been a “patient” in was now on its side, blocking the door.
He let Lise in and motioned for her to get on the floor in the corner of the room near JD11. A convex mirror directly across the hall from the room allowed the marine a clear view both directions down the corridor.

The explosion to his left almost caused him to move in that direction. However, the unmistakable sound of an AK47 from the right told him where the real attack was coming from. He saw his fellow marine drop to the ground, leaving the assassin standing exposed.

Jackson fired and saw Rudolf drop to the ground. He was surprised to find how quickly after that the hallway became filled with smoke. He was certain he’d hit the assassin hard. How in the world had he been able to respond with the smoke and percussion grenades so quickly?

“Is it over?” Lise whispered from the corner.

Jackson kept his eyes on the smoke filled hallway while holding up a hand to signal silence. Lise understood said nothing more.

The quiet was terrifying. Lise stood up and moved to put herself between the door and JD11. While she had confidence in Jackson, she didn’t know how well the marine would stand up against an assassin capable of destroying half of the hospital in a matter of a few minutes.

Her intent was to make the assassin go through her to get to her patient. She knew it wouldn’t work. Somehow, she knew the best she could hope for was to buy a little extra time.

After about a minute, the smoke started to clear out. Soon, Jackson was able to make out the mirror across the hall, although he could quite make out what was down the corridor just yet. It was very quiet. Perhaps the smoke grenade had been the last act of a dying man.

Jackson stood up slowly and leaned slightly out into the hallway. Rudolf, shot him through the bottom of his chin from his position on the floor right on the far side of the table.
Lise jumped at the sound. Fear reached for her as she watched the marine suddenly stand up straight, and then teeter back into the room, the top of his head gone.

A moment later, the table was shoved aside and a man dragged himself into the room. Lise ran over to kick him only to find her ankle in an iron grip. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground next to Rudolf.

They lay there for a moment before Rudolf smiled and said, “Dr. Marshall, I presume. I’d love to chat, but first things first.” He reached out and applied a light pressure to her neck taking her out of the game for at least the next several minutes.

That was it. There was no one between him and the Beast.

He pulled himself to his feet; keeping the pressure off of his left leg. He knew there would be no excaping this hit. The wound in his stomach had reopened as a result of his encounter with Jack. His leg was bleeding profusely in spite of the tourniquet.

Still, as he lurched to the foot of JD11’s bed, he smiled. This would be his best moment.

Rudolf took a moment to look at the Beast/man as it lay there in apparent contented slumber. It was easy to see how one could be fooled into thinking this was nothing but an ordinary man. But he knew better. The Brotherhood knew better.

Rudolf raised his assault rifle and began to apply pressure slowly, savoring the moment; knowing it would be his last. Knowing the beast would proceed him into the great beyond; where both would undoubtedly be judged quite differently.

JD11 opened his eyes and Rudolf froze.

There was something about those eyes that made Rudolf reel. In a moment he knew that he was wrong; that he’d always been wrong. He saw himself for what he was – a manipulated soul filled with fear.

Rudolf saw himself exposed for the entire world to see. He understood that there were no secrets – anywhere. He felt childlike and ashamed.

And then he felt mad.


This was the Beast as work. This was the Beast getting inside his head and making him doubt himself.

“I forgive you, Rudolf,” JD11 said.

Rudolf started to pull on the trigger. A moment later, brains mixed with blood splattered the wall behind JD11.

Rudolf stood a moment longer before toppling over.

“Hi Annie. My name is Simon.” said JD11, smiling at the young woman that had just blown off the better part of the assassin, Rudolf’s head.

Annie lowered the too-big gun and said, “I know.”

ID: 1812956   (Rated: 13+) Part One Epilogue  The aftermath of the attack is cleaned up. by Hyperiongate