“I’m here, Fossen. I know how we’re gonna kill the creature.”
Fossen blinked as if trying to process the words, then he stood back and motioned Rook inside. “By all means tell me about it.”
Seated at Fossen’s table, Rook began to describe what he’d found. The secret entrance and the lab. Rook asked, “Do you know anything about this?”
Fossen remained motionless in his chair. He didn’t even appear to blink. Finally, he answered, which seemed to snap him out of it. “The old lab. It was abandoned so long ago, I’d totally forgotten about the escape route. It was something my father, who worked there, told me about when I was a child, but I never actually went into the tunnel myself.”
“And it didn’t occur to you when the creature disappeared right in that area last night?”
“No. The lab was actually closer to town, as you discovered by your long walk in the tunnel.”
“Right. You say your father worked there? Is he still alive?”
“No, he is not. He was already an old man when I was born, and he died in a lab accident.”
“Sounds like the lab was a dangerous place. I saw that everything appears to have been buried. Why was that?”
“Memories, Stanislav. It was a symbol of old things that we no longer wished to think about. Perhaps even felt ashamed of. I was still in school when it happened.”
“But you still became a scientist yourself, with your own lab. Continuing your father’s work?”
Fossen grunted. “Hardly. I’m sure that spending time there as a child contributed to my current interests, but my research is very different than what they were doing.”
Rook didn’t comment on how unlikely that sounded. “Uh-huh. Well, I did find something else interesting—lab reports. In a folder with a Nazi symbol on it. Is that part of what you wished to forget?”
“You have stumbled on one of our secrets. You can see why this is something we don’t talk about.”
“You got that right. It seems like work at the lab was not going well. But the last report was different. Instead of a report, it was like a diary entry. From a man named Edmund Kiss.”
Fossen froze at the mention of the name, but he didn’t pause before answering. “Edmund Kiss. I have not heard that name in a long time.”
“Another one of your secrets?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, good old Edmund had some interesting news. Apparently, he experimented on himself and turned himself into a giant creature with superhuman strength and a foul stench. Sound familiar?”
“It does, but—”
Rook cut him off. “But Edmund Kiss is dead? Well it turns out that he faked his own death. Something about letting the younger generation have their time.”
Fossen grasped the implications of this immediately. “So the creature we are fighting is Edmund Kiss?”
“It sure as hell seems like it. And he’s not too happy with you.”
“I guess not. Did you find anything else?”
“You mean besides the answer to all your problems? Sure, I found three abominations, pitiful wolves who were obviously the subject of genetic experimentation.”
Fossen’s eyes grew wide. He cleared his throat and said, “Those must be the wolves that escaped from my lab a few months ago. I see that Kiss took them.”
Rook knew there had to be more to the story than that, but he didn’t push it. After they killed the creature, he could decide what to do next. If he even stayed in this lunatic asylum of a town. The day’s discoveries had finally made him feel like a soldier again, kicking ass and getting the job done. After he killed Kiss, he knew he’d feel even better. But would he be ready to return to Chess Team? He’d ask that question again tomorrow.
“So you’re creating genetic freaks with your research. Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Come now, Stanislav, you do not strike me as a man who is afraid of progress. Sometimes solving great problems takes great sacrifice.”
Rook bit down on the response that came to mind. What would you know about sacrifice? Edmund Kiss turned himself into a monster. That’s a sacrifice. You’re just playing God without any real personal stake.
Fossen didn’t appear to notice the pause. “So, we should get him tonight, yes?”
Rook nodded. “Damn right. No guarantees, but I bet he’ll return down that ravine. The tree is the only place to hide, so that’s where I’ll go. I’ll have a clear shot with the AR-15 and I should be able to hobble him. Then I can finish him off up close.”
“I am coming with you.”
“No way, Fossen. We had this discussion before. Plus, didn’t we lose the other AR-15?”