22. Second Recruit

Ai Arish: Egypt - Five Weeks Later

Normally at this time of night the desert would be quiet with only the sound of the wind blowing and night time animals scurrying about for food. That wasn't the case as a motorcycle revved its engine as it streaked across the rocky terrain. Dust and rocks kicked up behind it as two riders leaned in on the machine to keep themselves low enough to avoid those following them. Tracer rounds cut through the air around them while they weaved back and forth to avoid being hit.

Are you sure we're going the right way?" shouted a teenage Egyptian boy as he clung to Miguel for dear life.

"This road will take us to Israel! We're almost there, just hang on!" Revving the bike more, Miguel managed to increase his speed as more bullets flew around them.

About fifty yards behind the fleeing duo, a flatbed truck tried to keep up with the small motorized machine with three armored soldiers opening fire on them. Two more occupied the inside of the cab with one driving and the other manning a jamming device to cut off communications sent by Miguel. The group of five were among the last ones to give chase as the rest of the Executioners army had been taken down before Miguel freed the boy from a cage they had put him in so he may be terminated in the morning.

"As soon as we get to the boarder. Ah'll drop you off! Look for a blonde dreadlocked woman named Justine! She'll take you to a boat and get you out of here!"

"What about you?" the teen yelled.

"Just do as I sa-"

Cutting him off, a large shower of white sparks exploded from the ground. Miguel narrowly avoided running into it as another erupted close to his right side. With the noise of the bike and rushing of the wind, it was near impossible to hear the sound of mortar rounds firing at them.

Explosion after explosion occurred around them and were getting close. Miguel resulted in slowing down to let the shells detonate ahead of where he was headed then speeding up to throw off the soldiers targeting. Since South America, he and Justine had run into the armored soldiers three times, once in Algeria, then again in Libya, and a third time when they found the boy being apprehended from his home. Now, it was just a matter of making it to the border where Justine was waiting to take them across the sea to a small airfield and get out of this part of the world.

As the two sped off into the night, neither noticed an eighteen wheeler heading their way as its headlights were off. It was only at the last minute when they blinded them and caused Miguel to veer off road, right into the path of an oncoming mortar.

The explosion hit just shy of a foot from the front wheel of the bike, causing both riders to fly off the seat and into the hard terrain. Miguel had just enough time to form his claws to make himself invulnerable while his passenger held both hands in front of him and formed an orange shield. He slid to a stop them bounced back up, making his shield form into a pair of sickles on his arms.

"Kid, get out of here!" Miguel yelled at him as the back of the truck's trailer opened to let around thirty soldiers out. "Head for the boarder!"

"You're out numbered!"

Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, Miguel brought the teen close. "I need you to run. Get to Justine and get on that damn boat or Ah'll kill you mah self." With a hard shove, he sent the boy into the desert as he turned back to face the other soldiers.

Away from the fight, the teen struggled to breathe as he ran as fast as he could up hill. He wished he wore actual shoes instead of the sandals he had on as gravel poked and cut into his feet. Reaching the top of the hill, he could see the boarder and a small boat waiting for him and Miguel with the light from the moon illuminating the area. He took off again, hoping he had enough energy to make it.

"Formation Delta!" one of the soldiers yelled as his group attacked Miguel.

Splitting up into groups of five, they surrounded the mutant and opened fire. While doing nothing to actually injure him, the bullets did leave a stinging sensation after striking him. Soon his whole body felt like it was being stung by bees as the soldiers never let up on their attack.

Blue claws ripped through their armor, leaving those Miguel struck down in a seizure induced coma. Twice he was struck by what felt like a .50 caliber bullet, making him slowly lose his temper a little more each time. His claws were slowly growing darker and making him back off slightly to take a breath or two when one of the soldiers unleashed a burst of thousand plus degree flame at him. With barely anytime to get out of the way, Miguel dove into a ditch as the flame sailed over him. Once it was over, he leapt up and rushed the fire wielding soldier. Another burst of fire caught him in mid run, but he didn't stop as he buried both sets of claws into the man's chest. As for the other soldiers, they opened fire on the mutant, not caring if their comrade was in the line of gunfire. The result was the gas tank on his back exploding and catching a number of soldiers on fire, forcing the others to help them while trying to take the mutant down. With most of the aggressors tending to their brothers in arms, Miguel quickly took the rest out and was soon standing alone in the middle of the desert.

"S#$t." Running over to what was left of his bike, Miguel quickly opened the saddle bags in the hopes his gear was still safe. That was put to rest as his laptop, USB drives, and other communication equipment was destroyed. "F#$k me."

Looking around him, he laid eyes on the open eighteen wheeler trailer. The inside was lit up rather brightly, giving him an idea as to what was inside. Grabbing his clothing bag, he headed over to the vehicle and climbed inside, after picking up a few explosives from the downed soldiers of course. Lining the walls of the trailer were computer terminals, radar, a radio broadcast area, and a detention cell to the back. It was all highly state of the art equipment.

Taking a closer look at what lay inside; he went over to one of the computers and saw something that felt like a shot to the gut. On the screen was a word for word transcript of everything he sent back to the mansion via phone or computer. Entire conversations were displayed with the times and dates they were made, even Justine's phone was listed. Somehow they had gotten hold of everything, even calls he made from hotel phones were on there. Just to make sure he wasn't seeing things, he pulled out his cell phone and brought up the text screen. He brought up Megan's number and sent her a short text then waited for the message to appear on the screen. Sure enough, it popped up a few seconds later. He had no choice. He smashed his phone and quickly planted the explosives where they would do the most damage before getting out of there. As he stood several yards away, the trailer and cab exploded in a brilliant ball of fire, leaving behind a charred metal shell.

"I hope you got that message, Pix," he muttered. "It may be the last one I send for a while."

Letting out a breath, he headed in the direction Justine was waiting when a thought occurred to him. There was no other vehicle around. Both he and the teen boy were attacked by a flatbed truck before the eighteen wheeler appeared in front of them, but it was nowhere to be found. A very bad feeling came over him as he raced into the desert.

It didn't take him long to pick up the teen's trail, growing up in the desert and being a mercenary helped in that regard. Using a lit claw for light, he made his way downhill and behind a large boulder some thirty yards from the boarder. Blood appeared in the sand along with one of the soldier's helmets. A rifle lay close by and it wasn't long until Miguel found the body of the man they belonged to. It was then when he heard the pleading of a woman and ran to where her voice was coming from.

Everything was in slow motion as he came up behind Justine who was hunched over the teen boy Miguel was attempting to help. She had her hands on his body with a soft red glow emanating from her palms. She had told him she was capable of healing others when her whips were not formed by simply touching them; however, the boy's body wasn't moving.

"Justine?" Miguel asked as he slid next to the two. "What happened?"

Stopping her pleading for him to live, Justine gave her answer. "The soldiers…they came over the hill and…and I…I got here too late. I can't heal him. He's gone."

Miguel checked the boy's pulse to make sure. "What happened? What exactly happened?"

"They…they came over the hill and fired at him. I ran as fast I could to help him but I got here after they already stabbed him. He had some sort of orange shield and sickle but he didn't know how to fight properly. They gained…gained up on him and stabbed him after he killed one. It looked like his first time because he froze when he saw the body stop moving. He never had a chance. I took them out quickly for that."

Miguel looked away and saw the truck that chased them earlier. "They knew."

"What?" By this time, Justine had abandoned trying to heal him.

"They knew what we were doing. There was a semi that cut us off. Its trailer had equipment and one of the computers had everything I sent back to the mansion, texts, emails, phone calls, every damn thing."

"They knew about the kid?"

"And where we were going. I can't contact the mansion and neither can you. They had your cell on there. Somehow, they hacked into everything going into the mansion and everyone who has connections to it. We're on our own."

Staring at him, Justine took out her phone and smashed it on the ground. "If they hurt Sarah-"

"I don't think she's in any danger. It's just what we sent to the mansion."

"So what do we do now?"

Looking at his watch, Miguel saw it wasn't long before dawn would occur. "We change plans. We take the boat to another part of the country then head to China. We have to find the last one like us. For some reason, they were targeting you and Akins."

"What about you?"

"They've been after me since I first went to the mansion." He looked down at the boy whose shirt had a large blood stain on the stomach. "Akins, I rescued you just so you could die anyway."

Placing her hand on Miguel's shoulder, Justine squeezed it gently. "It wasn't your fault. But what do you want to do with the body?"

It didn't take them long to dig a grave and pile stones on top of the deceased mutant.