Project Hyperion (A Kaiju Thriller) (Kaiju #4)

“Is there a name given for the soldier whose weapon discharged?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says. “Uh. Katsu. Katsu Endo.” He looks up quickly. “That’s him! Endo! He was there, too.” He looks back to the screen. “The General flew in and shut down the exercise. A month later, he resigned and...hold on. The brief includes a location. Coordinates.”

He brings up a second program, Zoomb Planet, which provides a satellite view of the planet without using government resources. He punches in the coordinates and the view of the planet zooms to Alaska, then closer, and closer, the image resolving slowly as the computer tries to show the ever-changing images. When it stops, we have a top view of white sludge.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“Low res filler,” he says. “It’s what the software uses when there is no satellite coverage of a certain area. It’s the middle of nowhere, but there should be something.” He zooms out. “See, the surrounding terrain comes in clear enough.”

“Any reason that might happen?”

He laughs at me, scoffs really. “Isn’t it obvious? We’re using Zoomb software. There’s something there they don’t want anyone to see. This is the connection. Gordon found something in Alaska, and then used it to secure a position with Zoomb, and probably a good chunk of change.”

“Can we use an active satellite to take a look?” I ask.

His fingers fly over the keys. “Would normally take at least a day to get approval and retask, but we’ve got full access and a green light to use whatever resources we need. Should take just an hour to get the satellite into position.”

“Do it,” I say. “And find out who owns that land now. If Zoomb is ultimately responsible for this mess, we’re taking them down, and Gordon with them.”

“Just the five of us?” Collins asks, looking a little dubious.

I nod. “FC-P now represents the combined resources of every federal criminal agency and the U.S. military. Far as I know, Nemesis doesn’t have a monopoly on vengeance.”





33



She swam. And though she had no memory of doing so before, the act came naturally after just a few minutes. At first, she tried to push herself through the water with her arms and legs, but that was slow and clumsy. With a roar of frustration that sent a plume of bubbles roiling to the surface, she thrashed her tail and moved through the water. Learning quickly, she put her arms to her sides, streamlining her body, and used her tail to swim like a marine iguana.

She didn’t feel as comfortable in the water as she did on land, but it was quiet in the abyss. And less painful.

The events that lead to her flight through the busy, noisy place were a jumbled mix of memories—a confusing mash of light and sound that she didn’t quite understand. She’d fought against the pain at first. Her burning hunger commanded her, and there was so much food. But the heat, and sound, and chaos jolted her.

Her rage still burned, but a curtain of confusion had been thrown over it, so she ran and flattened everything in her path, eating when it was easy, but moving forward until she reached the water and slid beneath the surface.

The raw emotions blinding her instincts had faded during the long swim, focusing her thoughts on just one simple goal: eat.

Her sensitive ears picked up a deep, throaty drone not far away. The sound was closer to the coast than she wanted to be, but she could sense a large number of prey. She didn’t understand how she could sense them, only that she was drawn to them...and angered by them. Her hunger was matched only by her rage. Despite her apprehension of returning to the shore, and the potential pain it might bring, she changed course and headed toward the slow-moving food source.

Her deep feeling of loathing for the creatures increased as she grew closer. She could feel them. Feel through them. She felt a cascade of emotions flow down through the water. Fear, loathing, anger, jealousy and pride.

As she slid beneath the ship, the fear spiked.

Then she felt something new. A sense of wrongness, like an opposing force, that needed to be destroyed—no matter what. She stopped moving, hovering in the hundred and fifty foot deep water, and listened.

“Stop! Please, stop!” The words were distant, muffled by water, drowned out by the roar of engines, and mixed with cheers and loud thrumming music, but she could hear them all the same. She sensed that this was a language, that information was being conveyed, but she couldn’t understand.

But the emotions carried by the words—terror and desperation—came through clearly.

“Help!” came the voice. “Someone help!”

She twitched uncomfortably, feeling tight inside her own body. Hunger burned in her gut. But she couldn’t ignore the voice. It captivated her, drew her up from the deep. As she neared the ship, a revelation brought clarity to her actions—her emotions and physical needs were aligned.

With a thrash of her tail, she rose through the dark, toward the flashing light and hundreds of unsuspecting prey above.