Hybrid - Forced Vengeance Read Free

warehouse facility.
    Sirens pierced the darkness as Erik leapt over the ten-foot razor fence, disappearing into the Saudi Arabian night.
    Agent Erik Night approached the US embassy, pausing several hundred meters away to observe the surrounding human traffic. He recognized several local spies. A listening depot lingered directly across the street.
    The Arabs were so bold they didn’t even bother to hide their surveillance anymore. As he neared the embassy, a wave of nausea tore through his body. His mind shrieked a powerful warning, nearly causing him to collapse. Erik paused; to his horror, the telepathic link to his wife ceased.
    “Shanda!” he called to his wife in a whisper. Erik ran the last few meters to the embassy, horribly frightened. His mind reached out desperately searching for her, but only a dark void remained. As he approached the embassy guard his transceiver beeped.
    He stared at his radio, tears already streaming down his face because he knew what he was about to hear.
    “Knight,” he whispered hoarsely into the radio.
    “Erik, it’s Martin,” the voice began in a solemn, doom-filled tone. “I’m sorry to tell you like this, but … there’s been an accident.”

Chapter 2: Gestation Day 11

    And they buried the dead

    Erik Knight stood alone among the crowd, barely hearing or comprehending the words coming from the pastor. His aqua blue eyes burned with tears as they locked upon the metallic coffin suspended above the freshly dug earth. He kept hoping he’d wake up from this nightmare, but the ordeal was real. Shanda was gone and there was nothing he could do but endure the black emptiness from their shattered telepathic bond. His ex-wife wailed as the service concluded; he was barely conscious of the hand that held his own. He gently placed a single long-stemmed red rose upon the coffin. He knelt down, scooped up a handful of dirt and sprinkled it over the casket.
    “Good bye, baby. I’ll always love you.” His whispers were followed by waves of despair which overwhelmed his body. He looked up toward the gray October sky. “Watch over her, please?”
    He turned and walked away, letting go of the hand that had held his so tightly.
    He climbed toward a ridge that overlooked the entire cemetery and remembered the last time he was up here, a little over two years ago, saying good-bye to his best friend. The episode had been painful, but nothing compared to the loneliness, the vast emptiness that now filled his entire being.
    “We were supposed to have longer than this, angel,” he whispered, as if addressing his wife’s spirit. “What am I supposed to do now?” He sat down on the cool soil, buried his face in his hands and wept, grieving for his lover, his wife – the woman who had meant more to him than his own life.

    * * * *

    “Dad?” a soft voice whispered.
    The gentle touch of his daughter’s hand upon his shoulder made him look up.
    “Dad, it’s time to leave.”
    Erik noted his friends, Margaret, Jeff and Alissa in the background. The concern and sympathy they all felt were etched clearly in young Brianna Knight’s eyes. The promise of beauty from her childhood now stood fulfilled in the young teenager standing over him.
    “Okay, munchkin,” he whispered hoarsely.
    Brianna offered him her hand as he stood up. Erik took it, stumbling along the narrow path like a feeble old man as she guided him along the cemetery’s ridge. Jeff placed an arm around his friend’s shoulder as they walked away from the burial site and approached the long black limousine.
    “Why, Jeff?” he whispered to his friend as they climbed in. “Why did it have to be her?”
    “I don’t know, Erik. These things rarely, if ever, make any sense. I know that’s no comfort. Just remember that what you two shared, most people never find, even through marriage. Keep her love alive inside you and a part of her will always be there.”

    * * * *

    The limousine pulled into the Barker Funeral Home