Consuming Fire

Chapter 43

"Does that make sense, General?"

General Cheng straightened and stared at the map laid out on the table. He met eyes with Dr. Wolfe, seizing him up. Jack could practically here the blood thumping in his body. A war was on the horizon, and he couldn't wait to start destroying things.

"I will need to speak with my associates," said the General, "but I believe we will be able to carry out the mission. As long as you are sure that the President will be at this location on the day and your weapon-" He glanced at Jack through narrowed eyes, "-will be able to distract the defense force long enough to get us into the bunker."

Dr. Wolfe nodded. "I can assure you that this will be one hell of a fight. My men are somewhat ... limited these days. I will need as many soldiers as you can muster."

"Already accounted for. We have more men committed to this cause than ever before. I look forward to our next meeting."

General Cheng smiled. He obviously liked the plan. They shook hands, and the soldiers began to move out of the board room, leaving Dr. Wolfe and Jack alone.

The look of bloodlust and evil in Dr. Wolfe's eyes made Jack's whole body tingled. His need to explode, to cause destruction and to feed the darkness was greater than ever.

"When will it happen?"

"A few days," Dr. Wolfe replied. "I'm allowing the General to arrange his attack and converse with his forces. We have another meeting after permission is given."

Jack cracked his neck, feeling the pulse of impatience surge through him. "Permission? I thought he was the General, i.e. the guy who makes the decisions."

Dr. Wolfe gave Jack a knowing smile. "The Chinese are not alone in this attack, Jack. You have no idea how hated your country is. Hopefully, the Agents will have returned from a successful mission, and then there will be no one to stop me."

Jack's thoughts on Hunter had been replaced with a dark hatred that clouded his vision like the haze of a drug. He no longer saw her face, just her red hair. There was no more emotion in his consciousness, therefore no face to remember.

A moment later, there was a knock at the door.

"Sir?" Dr. Hosking poked her frayed head and nosy beak into the room and said in a hollow voice, "the Agents have returned."

Dr. Wolfe jerked toward her. "Were they successful?"

Her face fell. The doctor had such a murderous look in his eyes that Jack thought he would explode as well. It made the darkness excited. He slammed the file down on the desk and stalked past Jack.

He followed.

Before they entered the infirmary, Jack could sense the remnants of a fight in the air. He could smell the blood. Three mutants were thrashing about on their gurneys. Dr. Wolfe was looking for Alpha, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Sir?"

Jack turned and there stood a well-built man in a suit with a beaky nose and a round face.

"Agent Bravo," said the doctor. "Where is-"

"Dead," said Bravo.

He shot a glance at Jack and then inclined his head as a notion for Dr. Wolfe to follow him. They walked a short distance away so they could not be heard.

In the meantime, Jack walked over to the nearest bed. On it was a pale boy of Jack's age with black hair and slimy features. There was a bandage stained with blood over his stomach. He held onto a briefcase like his life depended on it.

Jack could see evil in the boy's soul. He glared up at him with tired eyes.

"What are you looking at?"

I could snap your body in half like a splinter, said Jack. Then he realized that Jet was probably thinking the same thing. Jet's power was different to his, and yet it had just as much potential.

"That looks like it hurts," said Jack with a smirk.

Jet scoffed.

A moment later, Dr. Wolfe was at his side. "What have you found, Jet?"

"I don't know for sure," he said as he slid the briefcase he held across the bed. Jack curiously leaned over Dr. Wolfe's shoulder. There was an inscription under the handle.

"Joshua Harrison," Dr. Wolfe murmured and a smile spread across his lips.

Something in Jack's mind transported him back to a memory of a dark alleyway and a man who at the time seemed more psychotic than anyone Jack had ever come across. But back then, he hadn't met Dr. Wolfe. Joshua was not a villain at heart.

"Madam found it. We think Hunter tried to go back for it before they escaped in the jet, but she must have missed this one. It looked like nothing at first," said Jet, "but then it spoke to me."

The doctor lifted the case marked with hazard signs and raised a spherical rock. The only odd thing about it was that it looked completely fake.

The doctor was mesmerized.

"Is it speaking to you now?" he asked.

Jet shook his head. "It hasn't said anything since that night."

Dr. Wolfe frowned, stroking a finger down his jaw, and then he turned to Jack.

"Take it," he said.

Jack let the rock fall into his palm.

At first, there was just silence. Jack became so focused on the rock that he didn't know where he was or who he was with. A strange whisper was coming from the stone, and as he listened and peered at it closer, he sensed a pulse inside. There was something living in the stone. Something that felt connected to him.

Jack began to shake. It was not the type of angry quiver he felt before something around him exploded, nor was it dark or evil or consuming. It was a memory, a feeling he'd forgotten.

Jack hated it. He shoved the stone into the doctor's hands.

"It's just a rock," he muttered.

"A rock that Joshua was trying to protect," said Dr. Wolfe. He spun and started to march away from the bed.

"Wait!" yelled Jet. "What about Mikayla? They have her!"

"We can do nothing at this moment but keep searching," he replied. "And you can do nothing but heal. The salves will patch up your wounds."

"But you promise I can make her pay?"

"Make who pay?"

"Hunter," Jet said through his teeth. "She's the reason for all of this. And the Iceman."

"I need them alive."

"But-"

"That's enough!" Dr. Wolfe snapped. Jet's mouth shut.

Jack followed the doctor to the door. He summoned two scientists. Dr. Hosking was one of them. They went across the hall to the laboratory. The doctor was more excited than Jack had ever seen him.

"I need you to analyze this stone. Take a sample with the extractor. Run it against the DNA we have. Try and find a match. Notify me the moment you have anything. This substance is highly temperamental and very valuable. Do you understand me?"

Dr. Hosking nodded and started ordering her partners to get to work. The doctor turned to Jack.

"We have what we need," he said with more excitement in his eyes than Jack had ever seen.

"What do you think it is?"

"Power, Jack," he said. "This is power."