The Last Handful of Clover - Book 3: The Stone in the Stream

3.43 NVCK-9

June 16, 3:30 pm

As Mattie was racing away from the university, with her two prisoners locked into the back of the squad car, Sutton Deary and his shadowy wingmen were descending in the elevator to the sub-basement of Building C. It was a large freight elevator, and it moved very slowly. And as the car rumbled its way down, Sutton reveled in the strength of the two dark angels at his shoulders.

When he first discovered the pair, they seemed ancient, and very troubled; like spirits of pure chaos. Their madness and rage were nearly a match for his own, but each was unique. The tall one with the long hair had seemed especially familiar, like they had once been old friends, or that perhaps they had been traveling companions in a former life. But even if that were not true, he sensed in the ghost with the shotgun a kindred spirit, as if they looked upon the world with the same pair of eyes.

The other Dark Ghost was less familiar to Sutton, and far more mysterious. There was an air of chaos and danger around the old man that was disconcerting, even to God. But he couldn't doubt the power and rage lurking in the man with the silver knife. Where the long-haired ghost was cold and cruel, the old cowboy just radiated a hunger, and a desire to see the whole world burn.

Sutton knew that both ghosts had committed great atrocities in their respective times, and that the shame of it had burned away any humanity either of them had left. What remained were barely embodied presences of pure violence and hate.

They were beautiful, and he loved them both from the day he found them.

And Sutton's presence had enthralled them as well. When he needed cunning and merciless evil, he called on Mattie. But when he needed pure chaos and destruction, he called on his Dark Ghosts.

Slowly, the doors opened on the sub-basement, and the first of three security and containment checkpoints that he'd have to navigate on the long, winding corridor that led down to the Wheelbarrow labs.

From here, he smiled, it should all be absurdly easy.

And it was.

Two security guards staffed each checkpoint. And even though all the guards were armed, Sutton and his Dark Ghosts used the same play as they had used on the pair above ground. Sutton distracted the first guard, while one of the Dark Ghosts entered the other, and quickly dispatched his partner. He then cut his own throat with Sutton's razor sharp pocket knife.

Sutton wanted to move quickly, but it was even more important that they moved silently. So they were careful never to use the guns, or give the guards any chance to cry out or hit their panic alarms. Their method was simple, it was easy, and it was effective. And step-by-step they worked themselves deeper into the underground complex, leaving dead bodies and pooling blood in their wake.

And it was all so much fun! Indeed, as they progressed downward, Sutton felt even more alive and excited. The Cleansing was getting nearer with each step, and it made the tremors and shooting pains in his chest and shoulders seem almost like ecstasy.

If I had realized that this kind of close-up murder could be such a delight, he mused, I would have indulged myself in it all along!

After the last containment level, Sutton and his companions passed through the decontamination showers and locker rooms, before emerging into the huge, vaulted cavern that made up The Wheelbarrow itself. Taking up the bulk of the space in the cavern was a glass cube that reached almost to the high ceiling. The cube itself was divided into two chambers. The first was the outer lab, where the scientists spent most of their time working on samples. But the back half of the cube was the storage warehouse, with row upon rows of black, briefcase-sized boxes with carrying handles, each containing a deadly nerve agent or other ridiculously lethal poison.