We located Franks at the hangar where the Fed choppers were currently parked. The MCB had taken over the building and turned it into their command post. This pissed off a lot of Hunters, but the Feds played by their own rules and we were in no shape to argue. The main doors were open and I barged directly past the guards there. One of them moved to stop me.
"I need to see Agent Franks."
He automatically looked back into the open space. A twenty-foot-wide white tent had been put just inside the hangar door. There were figures moving around on the other side of the thin fabric. "I'll have to check."
A voice came through the fabric. "Let them in." Myers appeared around the corner of the tent. "How are you feeling?" he asked awkwardly. Knowing that I was ready to kick the bucket any minute had at least made him slightly humble.
"Oh, I'm just peachy. Thanks for asking." The dead automatons had been stacked neatly on the hangar floor in rows. Multiple agents were ripping them apart, looking for clues. "Where's Franks?"
Myers studied me for a moment. "He said you knew . . ." Then he glanced at the half-dozen or so Hunters standing behind me. "They wait here." Julie stepped up to my side. She didn't need to say a word as she gave Myers a look of utter coldness. He nodded once, understanding that she wasn't ready to leave me yet. "Fine, but what you're about to see is classified way beyond top secret. You have to take this to the grave with you."
"At least that won't take me long!" I exclaimed sarcastically. Julie visibly flinched. It made me feel guilty.
We followed Myers into the hospital tent. Several gowned and masked individuals were clustered over an operating table. Around them were beeping machines and a cart with various clean red organs stacked on it. The medical team parted as I approached. Franks was on the table. Myers had to look away.
The big man was a mess. His chest was cracked wide, held open with some sort of stainless steel device. A doctor stepped back, holding what appeared to be a damaged lung. Shockingly enough, Franks was awake and propped up on pillows. The fact that I could see his internal organs didn't seem to bug him any.
He slowly turned, eyes lingering on the bandage encircling my left hand. "Looks like I failed."
"Yeah, you did," I responded. "But let's make it count for something."
Franks dipped his head slightly. That was probably the closest thing he'd ever made to an apology.
"I need someone to help Lee and Esmeralda figure out how to reactivate Hood's teleportation device. We have a book that talks about that kind of device, written by somebody named Dippel. I have a feeling that you know something about his work."
The big man closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, I could see that they were still different colors, the blue one probably donated by some poor sucker from the concert. "Know his work? I am his work." Franks then addressed the doctor. "Wrap it up."
"But, sir, you still need another kidney, and you've also sustained damage to several major muscle groups. We need more time."
Franks looked at my hand again. He knew we were out of time. "Start stapling." The medical team complied immediately. Before they folded his chest closed, I noted that his physiology diverged wildly from anything I had ever seen in a biology textbook. There appeared to be extra organs and his ribcage was more of a hardened plate with flexible bits than separate bones. It was seriously weird. Franks caught me staring. "The taxpayers paid for some upgrades."
"So that's what you are . . ." Julie said. "You're Frankenstein's Monster."
"More than that," Franks snorted. "I hate that book. I'm no whiner."
I glanced at my watch. I had about forty minutes before I had to be back to the village. "Do you know anything about the magic teleportation rope?"
"No. But I understand his writings. Had to figure them out to stay alive. Good alchemist . . . Terrible father."
"It looks like he might have been the guy who built our ward stone too."
"Hmmm . . ." Franks frowned. That had thrown him off. "I didn't recognize it. I remember all the doctor's codes . . . Even the offensive ones." His thick brow furrowed in thought as the medical team literally screwed his chest together with terrible cracking noises. My already-nauseous stomach threatened to empty. "Sir, I have an idea."
Myers looked up from his corner. He was holding a handkerchief over his mouth. "You can't be serious."
"What are you thinking?" Julie asked. "Is there a magical way to save Owen?"
Franks' face was impassive as he squashed Julie's hope. "Nothing I know can help Pitt."
"I know what you're getting at. . . ." Myers stepped forward, surprised. "The wards were manufactured as focal points of reality, deadly to other dimensional creatures. Isaac Newton and the alchemists created them to protect mankind from the Old Ones and . . ." He trailed off. "Are you saying what I think you're saying, Agent?"
"A ward is a shield and a sword," Franks said simply.
Whatever he was suggesting rocked Myers, the man who had once ordered a nuclear bomb dropped on Alabama. "That could disband all cohesion!"
"Exactly," Franks responded. Whatever the hell that meant. Slowly he raised one big hand and held it out to me. "I can avenge you."
I shook his hand. He was unbelievably strong. "Kill them all."
Less than thirty minutes left.
Franks, Lee, and Esmeralda were working on the magic rope. MHI and the Feds were surrounding the village just in case. I had just enough time to make a few final preparations. I was strapping on every weapon in my arsenal when Milo lifted one final item from the table.
"This one is exactly like the one we used earlier when I fried Hood's butt," he explained as he pushed the sack into my hands. "You know those nasty little things kids use on the Fourth of July, the little hockey pucks that flash like a strobe light and hurt your eyes? Think of this as one of those on steroids from hell, only angrier. Don't look at it directly, or you will go blind. Well, it is pretty close to what we used earlier, so there should be about a twenty-second flash, but I was kind of surprised that one was actually a controlled burn and didn't just explode and roast us."
That made me feel particularly safe as I put the satchel over my armor.
Milo paused awkwardly. Then he hugged me. He patted me on the back a few times before breaking away. He looked like he was going to cry. "I'll go get the rest of your gear."
"Yeah, thanks, man."
Julie and I walked into the hall. My mind was reeling. This was the end.
"You okay?" I asked. It was an idiotic question.
"Of course not," she answered. "But it is what it is."
We stood there for a few seconds, huddled together in silence, which is an eternity when your remaining life is measured in minutes. But we were Monster Hunters. It wasn't like either of us hadn't ever thought about this before. I had always figured it would have been sudden though, with no time for long good-byes. This was much harder.
"There's something I have to tell you," I said softly. "In Mexico, when I talked to your mother, she warned me about the mark on your neck." Julie stiffened against me. "She said that it was going to kill you eventually. I didn't say anything because I was scared and I thought that she was just lying to us again . . . But with what happened last night . . ." I couldn't help but think about the three new marks. There was something terribly wrong, and I wasn't going to be around to help her through it.
Julie gave me a pathetic smile. "You've got other stuff to worry about right now, Owen. I'll take care of it."
I knew she would. Julie was strong, far stronger than me. No matter what happened, she would always find a way. That was just her nature. The year that I had known her had been the best year of my life, and I had somehow believed that it would go on like that forever. I held her tight as my heart ached.
Unable to contain it any longer, Julie began to sob. "I'd trade with you if I could."
"I know . . ."
In a little while, I would be dead and she would be alone, but I knew that she would survive. She would get on with her life without me, and someday, she would be happy again.
And knowing that gave me the strength to go on.
It was time.