From the Ashes Read online

  “Back already?” Kline asked as I headed for the gym. One of the sniper elites, he worked on his weapons skills daily.

  “Yup. Just a quickie with a little redheaded Agent. I really love those mini-mines. You might say I blew her mind.”

  He chuckled and slapped me on the back. “I prefer to let Betsy reach out and touch my adversaries.” He smiled lovingly at his 7mm Browning sniper rifle. Kline was one of the better ones. I didn’t necessarily like him, mind you, but he did have a sense of humor.

  “How did it go down?” he asked as he looked back at me.

  “It was weird. She looked right at me in a crowded rail station, then came for me like I was the target. I am definitely talking to Sanford about it.” I lifted my chin and grinned widely. “Of course, it could have been that she just couldn’t resist my charming personality.”

  “You keep telling yourself that,” Kline said as he headed toward the range. “But don’t forget to talk to Sanford.”

  We were the super men, the ninjas, the assassins used by Teledyne to keep Obsidian in check. Yes, the “O” had their version too, and—as a lot of us were finding out—theirs were better than ours. We were the ones who were supposed to even the field, but it wasn’t happening. The nanites and the constant, intensive training were our weapons. Every few months it was a new program—some kind of martial arts skill or a new weapon.

  We weren’t even sure about the new program Obsidian had. It took us months, or years, to get good enough at a skill to use it in the field. We were good—really good—but those bastards…I shook my head. There was no stopping them. They could be killed just like we could, but the next day, there would be another one, and another one, and another one, all of which acted the same. And, if I’m being totally honest, they were harder to take down then we were. One on one we could give them a fight, but they would still win seven times out of ten. Except with me, of course. I had killed three of the murdering bastards. But I had history with them, and I’d been at this a while.

  The com buzzed, then broadcast, “Spec Shey, report to 1488 immediately.”

  “Well, shit,” I muttered.

  This soon after completing my last mission? They usually gave me a few days to wind down, but this was becoming more and more common. We were having a hard time keeping up with Obsidian and were losing more Specialists than we should.

  I knocked twice and went into the office. It was a stern-looking place with tan paint and no window. Wallace sat in a metal chair behind a metal desk, moving cursors around on a virtual display.

  “About time,” he grumped. Wallace was a Keeper, but a lower level one. He dealt directly with “assets” like me. “Sanford wants to see you down in Li’s lab. Be there at 0800, after you shower.”

  He looked up at me for a second, then back down at his VD. “Whatever they’ve got planned for you wasn’t shared with me, son, so don’t ask.”

  He gestured toward the door and promptly ignored me. I got the point.

  Wallace wasn’t bad, just rough. He couldn’t get it through his head that I was at least five years older than he, even if I looked like I was in my early to mid-twenties.

  After a quick shower in the common, I grabbed a jumpsuit and a quick snack before heading down to the basement where the labs were. One thing about the nanites—when they were working, they needed to be fed.

  Doctor Li was the head of the program that handled the nanite infusions. She was the one who monitored the newly indoctrinated and, I was sure, was responsible for the Kill Order that was programmed into the nanites to ensure my special section did what we were supposed to. The scourge of society made into super warriors and sent off on secret missions. Did you think that was all there was to it? Riiight.

  Again, I knocked twice. This time I waited until I was told to enter. Dr. Li was a bit of a ball buster.

  “Enter!”

  I stepped through the security door and heard it lock after it closed. In addition to Li, I saw Sanford—my personal handler—was there. He had been around for the last decade or so, and he got involved when the Keepers requested him. He didn’t play games and shot it straight. At least, as straight as anyone who talked to me. Curiouser and curiouser.

  “Good to see you, Spec. We have a special mission. If you’re interested, it’s yours. Take a look at the requirements and let us know.” Li pointed toward a vid on the wall and said, “We’ll wait.”

  She watched me like I was a new experiment, so I winked at her and went to work.

  It took me twenty minutes to read and re-read the mission statement.

  “Seriously?” I looked from Sanford to Li and back. “What kind of research has been done? What are the chances I’ll end up with a lobotomy?”

  “Slim to none,” Li said without looking up from her handheld.

  I cocked my eyebrow at her. “Is that the research or the risk?”

  She looked up at me for about three seconds, then back down at the screen, but not before I saw a twitch at the corners of her mouth. “We will observe you in a closed environment for the first 72 hours. We will then constantly monitor you via an implant imbedded in your…”

  I knew I was their top operator. I had been with the program longer than any living person in the field. I was also the only one to have killed multiple Agents of O. So, I felt fairly confident they wouldn’t be too anxious to damage me on purpose.

  Right here is where I will insert a warning about false confidence. Trust in what you can and will do for yourself. Never trust what an organization will do for you. You are not their priority.

  Anyway, it was a new line of nanites that could, possibly, improve the one part of the human body they had only had limited success with thus far. The ole thinker, the gray matter. My attitude was, anything that will help my personal war against Obsidian was worth a try. Admittedly, I didn’t overthink it.

  “When do we start, and what do I need to do to prep?” I looked at Sanford. “Not the typical mission, huh?”

  Li glanced at me, then looked at my handler as if I wasn’t there anymore. “We can start as soon as he has cleansed his body and has had two days of light to zero stress on his mind. He should have a high, but healthy, caloric intake.”

  Sanford looked at me and nodded. “Spec, you heard the doctor. Take two days and remove as much stress from your mind as you can. Spend some time on the range and on the mats. I hear there’s a new Sig 10mm the range director has been trying out. Give it a whirl.”

  “Now you’re talking! I’ll get down there right now.”

  Turning back to Doctor Li, I asked, “When, where, and how would you like me, Doc?”

  Sanford chuckled as she shook her head, but she didn’t look up. “Be back here at 0700 on Friday. That’s just under forty-eight hours.”

  Li finally looked at me. “Spec, this isn’t something that has been done before on a willing human. Keep that report and look at the research on this drive. If you decide not to go through with it, we will pick a different subject. You are a special case, and that is the only reason we asked you first.”

  She tossed a small drive to me.

  See, I told you I was a special case.

  * * *

  3

  The 10mm was everything they said and more. It was a remake of an old classic by a manufacturer that had gone out of business a long time ago. A 19-round magazine and single action handgun that was stainless with wood grips. A beautiful weapon that was deadly in the hands of an expert. I was an expert.

  With my stress relieved, I showed up at the med lab at exactly 0700 by my internal clock. Li was there with a handful of techs, and Sanford was on his phone in the corner.

  “Are you ready, Spec?” she asked as I took a seat on the exam couch.

  I didn’t hesitate. “Let’s do this.”

  Li looked at Sanford who nodded. “I’ll let the PTB know he’ll be out of action for at least a week. But they’ll want you to get this done as quickly as possible.”

  H
e locked eyes with her for a moment longer than necessary. Long enough for me to wonder what was going on.

  Then he looked at me and nodded again. “I knew you would be a great candidate. Good luck to you.”

  As he headed for the door, I heard him speak into his comm. “Wallace, Sanford here. Will you meet me in Station 1 at your convenience?”

  Li pointed to the lab chair and began tapping away on her handheld as a couple of lab techs came in. She spoke into the tablet as they hooked me up to the monitoring equipment. “Subject, ‘Spec’ Shey, Senior Field Specialist, Teledyne Corp.”

  As the hypo went into my thigh, one of the lab geeks said, “Count down from 5.”

  Li continued to speak into her tablet, “Seventh iteration of nanite treatment for field operators.”

  “Sev—?” I was out.

  I watched momma as she did her morning training routine. She said it helped her stay in shape so she could keep up with us. Me, my older brother, Cal, and our older twin sisters, Clair and Gwen. I think she just liked the time off from the world. I knew her job as Chief of Police was stressful. I watched her and started mimicking her moves. After a few minutes, she started watching me out of the corner of her eye.

  When she was done and wiping her face with a towel, she tossed me a miniature version of the same towel and said, “You do that pretty well for a seven-year-old.”

  I blushed. “I just did what you did.”

  “But you did exactly what I did. That isn’t common. Do you focus on the moves I’m making?”

  “I watch the whole thing. All of you and how you move your weight to one side, or how you balance on one foot. I just do what you do, when I can.”

  “That’s impressive!” She hugged me. “Tomorrow, do you want to start when I do and go through the whole routine? At least until you get tired?”

  “I won’t get tired, Momma,” I promised as she headed for the shower.

  There was a bang as the screen door slammed, and Clair came in with a girl I hadn’t seen before. “Hey squirt! Where’s Momma?”

  “She’s in the shower. Who’s that?” The other girl was about the same age as Clair, who was the younger of the twins by a couple of minutes.

  “Oh, this is Mak. I wanted to introduce her to Momma and see if it was okay if I go help unload their moving van. They’re moving in down the road.”

  “Hi Mac,” I said.

  “It’s ‘Mak,’ with a ‘k,’ not a ‘c.’ Everyone always says ‘Mac’ with a ‘c,’” she said with a totally blank expression on her face.

  “I’m sorr—” I started to say as I looked at my fingers. I thought for a moment. “Mac? Mak? They sound the same to me.”

  Then I heard Clair snicker.

  “I’m just giving you a hard time, kid,” Mak said as I looked up at her. She had a lopsided grin on her face, and she punched me in the shoulder like Momma did. I guess I liked her.

  “When Momma gets done, will you tell her where I went, Little Man?”

  “I will, Clair. See ya. See you later, too, Mak with a ‘k.’”

  I waved, and they both laughed as they went back out with the usual slam of the screen door.

  * * *

  4

  As consciousness came back like a stick being pulled out of thick swamp mud, I could hear voices in the room.

  “…was having dreams or something. Probably killing puppies or torturing children.” Li didn’t sound happy.

  Sanford was stern with his reply. “Keep me updated on anything that changes. I want to know if something looks bad, if something looks good, or even if he is doing exactly what you expect him to.”

  “You know I will. What’s up out there?”

  “Things have gotten really tense with the Obsidian dignitaries. They’re not negotiating anymore, and we’re getting the feeling something is in the wind.”

  “What do you mean by ‘something?’”

  Sanford paused for several seconds. “I don’t know, but something isn’t right. I can’t put a finger on it, but my gut is telling me they’re up to no good.”

  Li was skeptical. “A hunch, huh? You know how scientists feel about hunches.”

  “Yeah, well, they’ve served me well for a lot of years, both in the militia ranks and in the program, so I’m not going to ignore them. I’ll let you know if I find any hard evidence, but...”

  “Hi, Shey. Master Kai says you’re doing quite well with the Shao Lin and Aikido.” Momma had approval in her voice and a smile on her face as she walked in the door in her work clothes.

  She smiled at Clair and Mak. “Thank you for walking home with him. We got tied up with some Corporate stuff that kept me late.”

  “No worries, Chief; we were happy to herd the squirt home.” Mak tried to punch me in the shoulder, but I was able to easily dodge her this time.

  “You gotta be faster than a snail, Mak,” I said with a grin.

  “He got you there.” Clair laughed, and Mak bowed her head.

  “Touché, Squirt.”

  Someone knocked on the front door, and Gwen went to check. She came back in a minute with a lady that looked a lot like Mak.

  “Oh, hey, Mom!” Mak said. “Everyone, this is my mom. I call her Mom, but I guess she’ll tell you to call her Stef.”

  Her mom smiled and said, “That’s Stef with an ‘f,’ not Steph with a ‘ph.’ People always get that wrong.”

  Clair laughed, and Gwen said, “Well, I guess she comes by it honest.”

  “He isn’t coming back! No one knows what happened, but his body was found washed up on the beach!” That was Wallace. What was he doing on this level?

  “Who killed him?” Li sounded stressed.

  “There is nothing to show that he was killed. All evidence points toward drowning.”

  “Drowning? Did you know he never went near the water? He was scared to death of it. Didn’t even take a shower—he would run about three inches of water in a bathtub to bathe. Why would he be anywhere near the ocean?”

  If nothing else, Dr. Li was direct.

  Wallace paused for a long couple of seconds. “Look, I don’t know how you know so much about Sanford, but I’m just telling you what I was told.”

  “Yes, well, be careful and let me know if circumstances change.”

  “When can he come out of that contraption?”

  “I should know more in 48 hours or so. The nanite treatment seems to have gone a lot deeper than expected. Along with the updates, he needed to get his abilities up to par with the new Specialists.”

  “You are an optimist, Dr. Li, but I hope you are correct.”

  “Well, whether I am or not, we should know more about Spec’s condition within the time frame I mentioned. Now if...”

  “Get down!” Momma shouted as all of us ran into the kitchen from our rooms.

  “Gwen, get that trapdoor open for Shey.”

  “What’s going on, Momma?” I asked. My voice was shaking, but I had to keep it together for her.

  “You know the drill, Scooter. You get in the safe room first, then we all will as soon as we get a chance.” She nodded to Clair, and my sister stabbed me in the thigh with a hypodermic needle. She pressed the plunger as she stabbed it in, but I must have wiggled because it came out while still squirting what was inside it.

  “Shit! It didn’t all go in!” Clair said as she shoved me down into the coffin-like space under the kitchen floor. I knew this wasn’t a drill. We’d had more of them lately for some reason, but Momma was more stressed than usual.

  She sounded calm now though. It was a calm I had never heard from her, and her voice was that of a boss, not just Momma. “Did he get enough?”

  Gwen looked down at me. “Yeah, Momma. He is slipping under now.”

  “Great, get that cover on there, and let’s get everyone else in their capsules.”

  I saw the grated cover slide into place and heard the hiss as the rebreather kicked on. I tried to tell Momma I wasn’t under, and I could help, but I cou
ldn’t get my voice to work. I tried to put my hands up and push against the cover as they lowered the floor on top, but they weren’t working either.

  I heard the screams, though. I heard everything as the woman with the golden hair killed my Momma and my family. I saw through the cracks in the floor and the vented cover of my safe room as she tore the kitchen apart, and my family’s blood dripped down through the floor cracks and covered part of the capsule I was lying in, unable to move or scream or help or cry.

  Then the woman said into some kind of hand held communicator, “This is Abigail Sloan, Agent, tell Sauer it’s a dead end. Nothing here of any interest, and the target is down. Collateral damage, three. All unavoidable.”

  * * *

  5

  I felt cold. That was odd because I hadn’t felt cold in years. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Oh, that was it. I couldn’t move. What the...

  How long had I looked for this place? I was sure this was it, but I needed one more definite sign. I was so close to beginning the revenge I had planned for so long. It had been three years since I started looking for a way to kill every Obsidian Agent I could get my hands on. After four long, long years of surviving, I had made my way from central Texas to the west coast. Teledyne City, NA—what used to be known as Southern California. I had survived on the streets and in the alleys, in the kid’s homes, and in the government quarters. I had read and researched everything I could find—that was written, anyway—about Obsidian and its Agent program.

  Most people didn’t know about it, so most of the stuff I found was urban legend and wives’ tales. But it was enough. It was enough to feed my rage and my focus. I learned enough to finally realize that if Obsidian had a program like that, then Teledyne had to have an answer to it. What better place to have someone teach me how to kill the killers?

  I had kept up the training my momma had started with me before she was murdered. It had been nearly seven years since she had saved my life but had been unable to save the lives of her other children.