Gabriel Elder book II of the Warlock Series

Zeus pulled off the Upper Levels Highway and onto Westport Road. It would lead into Greenleaf Road and Dr. Connors’ residence. Although the doctor had a lab in the warehouse district, Zeus was one of the few people to know the secret lab built beneath his executive home was even more impressive.

Under the guise of being concerned with the “end of the world”, the good doctor had paid an extravagant amount of money for a contractor to not only convert his basement, but to dig into the hillside behind the house as well. There was more square footage in the secret lab than the entire house above. Zeus not only knew about the secret lab, but he knew where the secret entrances were as well.

Parking the motorcycle in a cul-de-sac, he walked back toward the doctor’s house. Before he got to the house he turned and walked between the two neighboring houses and up the hill behind them. Then into the trees and into the back yard of the doctor’s house. He walked straight to the manhole cover. It was disguised to look like a maintenance hatch for the local utilities, but Zeus knew better. He opened the cover and quickly dropped down onto the steel ladder below. As he slid the cover back into place above him, Zeus descended into the dark tunnel.

He only had to go down about fifteen feet before he was standing in a concrete corridor. He didn’t bother turning on a light, instead he pulled the short sword from his jacket and used it as a guide in front of him. He knew the way, but in case there was anything between him and the door he was seeking, it would meet his blade first. After a short walk of fifty feet he was outside a heavy steel door.

He knew the alarms had already alerted the doctor to his presence. He also knew he was being watched on a very sophisticated infrared and thermal imaging camera. The doctor took no chances, nor could he afford to. Once he started working for the Warlock Council, he became a known figure to all the local shifters.

As Zeus approached the door, it swung open. He would have been blinded by the intense light beamed straight into his eyes, if hadn’t kept them shut. He knew what was coming and was ready. After a few seconds, he squinted through one eyelid and saw Dr. Connors standing off to one side. He was holding the same laser pen he had used in the council chambers the last time Zeus had been with him.

“Sneaking in unannounced?” Dr. Connors began, “I see you’re in your working clothes for the first time in many years as well. Are you here socially or officially?”

“If I was sneaking in, you’d never know I was here. I’m no longer working for the council so I guess this must be considered a social visit,” Zeus responded.

“In that case, please come in. What do I owe this visit, or should I guess?” Dr. Connors asked as he walked down the corridor toward one of his lab offices.

“I think you know why I’m here Daniel. It’s time for some answers and I’d rather hear them from you personally,” Zeus answered.

“So, Oz told you I figured out how to see what’s going on in the compound, didn’t he? I suppose I should have told you sooner, but ever since you became infected, I’ve had a hard time deciding which side you’re truly on,” Daniel Connors stated. “Rather than dwell on that, I’ve been trying to figure out a few of our mysteries. The report of your wife’s death for instance. I’ve spent months trying to figure out how anyone could know both you and Oz were away from the compound at the same time. I could never come up with an answer and for years I gave up on it as some weird coincidence.

Then, just a few months ago, I figured it out. The NSA in America had figured out a way to listen through walls and windows using just the vibrations of sound and amplifying them. So, I began to think, could someone do the same thing with electronic signals? The video feed from your security system is a closed loop with no access beyond the compound, but what if they were amplifying the electronic signals, direct from the mansion’s wiring?

Theoretically they would only need a small transmitter to beam the amplified signal from the house. There are several government spy satellites that could pick up even a weak signal, boost it, and send it on to anywhere in the world.”

“So, you hacked into the NSA computers?” Zeus asked.

He didn’t think even Dr. Connors was that reckless.

“I didn’t have to. I hacked into the actual satellite. The data stream to the NSA is encrypted and heavily monitored and I knew they would discover me if I tried to look at it, but I was sure they wouldn’t allow a third party to use it either. If someone was using the satellite, they would have to be piggy-backing off the maintenance signals for the actual satellite itself. It took a few weeks of searching every bandwidth and spectrum, but I finally found it.

I knew I’d never be able to trace it back to its origins so I tapped into it and I’ve been watching what the watcher watches. When I saw you severely injured at the front of the mansion I decided I could no longer sit back and just watch, I had to do something. I couldn’t explain any of this to Oz either for fear we were being watched by the watchers,” Dr. Connors explained.

Zeus thought on what the doctor had told him and it made perfect sense. If the doctor had come to his aid when he was injured, he wasn’t likely to be working for the white Alpha, not that Zeus had ever suspected the doctor of being able to do that. As a child, the doctor’s parents had been ripped to shreds by a pack of shifters in front of him. Since he already knew about the existence of shifters, Zeus made sure the child received the best possible education money could buy, as well as a good job with the Warlock Council. The doctor hated shifters and could never work with them. It had been an enormous strain on him to find a way to work with Zeus since he had become infected.

The doctor watched Zeus thinking about all he had revealed. He was aware he’d have to reveal everything, or almost everything, to the master warlock. In many ways, it would be good to be able to confide in someone, he only hoped he wouldn’t regret it. He still had a hard time trusting Zeus, especially after seeing him in shifter form.

“How exactly are you standing here?” Dr. Connors asked. “I saw the bullet holes in you on the video screen, you shouldn’t be alive, let alone standing here in my lab.”

“I have a medicine man who keeps me in good working order,” Zeus replied.

He wasn’t going to reveal anything about Gabriel or Breena to anyone other than Oz. The good doctor would just have to take his word for it.

“Can I see?” Dr. Connors asked.

Zeus hesitated and then slowly raised his shirt so the doctor could see the scars from the bullets. He might not be willing to explain how he healed so quickly, but he had to give the doctor something so he could trust him.

Although he was not a medical doctor, Dr. Connors was baffled at how the wounds could be so thoroughly healed in less than twenty-four hours. There was nothing he was aware of which could account for it. The wounds hadn’t been cauterized or even sealed with the newest battle gel being tested by the military. They looked like they had healed, just as they would have after six months, but it had only been a few hours!

“Did the change back into your human body help heal these so quickly?” Dr. Connors asked.

He was aware in his studies of shifters, that once the infected shifted back into human form there was a great deal of natural healing which occurred due to the nature of the transformation. When the human body was stretched and distorted to assume the shape of an enormous, two-legged wolf creature, it did a lot of damage. During the return to human form, shifter’s bodies secreted massive amounts of hormones, adrenaline and even stem cells. All of which helped heal the damage done by the growth and shift into wolf form. Any other damage, like that received in a fight, was healed along with the damage from the shift.

“To answer your question, it helped, but I had some other assistance as well,” Zeus answered. “The wounds I received were too severe to be healed completely by the shift back to my human form. There is always a limit.”

“Where did you get those wounds in the first place?” Dr. Connors asked.

Zeus just stared at him.

“So, I need to be honest with you, but you can keep secrets?” Dr. Connors asked.

With a deep sigh, Zeus answered, “Its complicated, but from what I can remember, I seemed to know I had to help Gabriel and the wolf. They were under attack by shifters and mercenaries sent by the white Alpha. I managed to save them, but I took a lot of damage along the way. Where this occurred is not important, only that it did.”

Dr. Connors thought for a moment, his mind was racing. This had far reaching implications.

“You mean to tell me you had some level of cognition? You actually knew and understood that you were Gabriel’s benefactor and he needed your help? Was this the first time this has ever happened?” Dr. Connors was asking questions as fast as his mind could form them.

“Yes, in some limited way, I guess that’s what happened…I need to add though that Gabriel is much more than my apprentice…he’s my grandson,” Zeus answered.

Dr. Connors was doing the math in his head. That meant the young warlock had to have been born after Stazia was infected! That wasn’t possible! It took a full minute for all of this to sink in. No wonder Zeus had spent so much time, money and effort tracking down the ‘perfect’ apprentice.

There was a lot going on which Dr. Connors’ science couldn’t account for. Zeus was healed in record time, Stazia gave birth after being infected with the shifter virus, and Zeus had human thoughts, feelings and some level of control after he had shifted. He could only shake his head in utter astonishment.

“There’s more,” Zeus added, “Last night after my treatment for my wounds, I shifted. During the time I was shifted, I had almost total control of my wolf form. I remember everything. I slept in my own bed doctor. I think I’ve become a new kind of shifter.”

Dr. Connors wasn’t sure if he could take any more revelations. He looked into Zeus’s eyes and knew he was telling the truth. Daniel was almost afraid the next thing Zeus was going to tell him was that he was the white Alpha.

“Enough of me, I need to know everything you’ve found out about Miss Grace and the white Alpha. All of it. Anything that can help me bring this creature down once and for all. I need to know its connection to Miss Grace too, is she controlling it? I know she’s a shifter, and somewhat of a genius in genetics, but beyond that, there doesn’t seem to be any real information on her anywhere,” said Zeus.

“Follow me,” Dr. Connors said as he turned and headed for another room in the lab.

They went into Dr. Connors’ office and Zeus watched as the doctor touched a series of spots on the wall behind his desk. A panel slid open and Dr. Connors stepped to it and had the retina of his right eye scanned. After a series of beeps, he turned his head and had his left eye scanned. Then he sat down at his desk and motioned for Zeus to join him in the seat opposite. All these security precautions seemed a bit much to the master warlock, but he complied with the doctor’s request and sat down.

They remained like that for about a minute when a series of lasers streaked overhead. Had either of the men been standing, they would have been struck by the beams somewhere between the chest and the head. Zeus grabbed a book off the edge of the desk and held it up enough for the laser beams to strike it. The beam went through the three-inch-thick book like it wasn’t even there. The book instantly burst into flames.

“All of this to protect some information?” Zeus asked as he tossed the burning book into a metal trash bin next to the desk.

“The information I have amassed is the greatest library of its kind in existence. I have all the known information on the history of the shifters, as well as the names of every person ever identified as a shifter, sympathetic to the shifters, and even related to the shifters. If there is anyone, anywhere in the world with more data on shifters, I’d love to find them. It’s been my life’s work and it’s far from complete,” Dr. Connors replied.

If what he said was true, Zeus could understand all the security precautions. It was a treasure more valuable than money. Just with the names alone, an unscrupulous person could make a fortune from blackmailing the many super-wealthy families afflicted with the virus.

After a few seconds, the laser beams disappeared. A panel on the wall behind Dr. Connors slid open to reveal a glass door. The doctor stepped up to it and opened the door. As Zeus got up to follow him, the doctor turned around and held up his hand stopping the warlock. Zeus watched as a series of biometric scans were conducted on the doctor. Once the blue beams stopped, a glass door at the end of the short corridor opened and the doctor stepped through it.

Once on the other side of the door and with it securely closed, Dr. Connors pressed a series of buttons on the wall and then motioned for Zeus to follow him. Although he felt like he might be walking into a trap, he complied. Once he entered, the door locked behind him. He could hear the doctor on a speaker from the ceiling.

“If more than one person enters that door, the hall will fill with enough gas to knock out an army of shifters. If I don’t come through first and disable the defenses, the hall will fill with gas. If I’m not in the hall, and I’m not here disabling the defenses, lasers will cut anyone in there to shreds. I will not be forced to open my treasure to anyone unless I want too,” Dr. Connors explained.

Zeus watched as the doctor stared at him through the glass door. For just a moment he was worried the doctor might indeed use the lasers on him. Dr. Connors smiled and opened the glass door to allow Zeus into the enormous inner vault. The fifty-foot by fifty-foot room was about as high-tech as Zeus had ever seen or heard of. The wall on his left was filled with a bank of supercomputers and ultra-routers the military would be jealous of. On the opposite wall was a series of heavy, stainless steel drawers of varying sizes. On the back wall, was a series of large storage lockers. Finally, along the last wall, the same one with the door in it, there was a series of computer monitors and keyboards sitting on titanium desks.

Dr. Connors went to one of these computers and began typing in a series of commands. As he worked, Zeus continued to search the vault with his eyes.

“Are those Titans?” Zeus asked, referring to the four supercomputers along the opposite wall.

Dr. Connors just smiled and nodded his head up and down as he worked. He was impressed the master warlock had been able to identify one of the world’s most powerful computers from across the room. There was much more to Mr. Zeus than he led people to believe.

Zeus was just as impressed. He knew the doctor was considered one of the best computer and tech geniuses in the world, but he was working with more computing power than all but a few of the very top agencies in Canada or the US. Where did he get the clout to acquire these?

Dr. Connors could guess at what the warlock was thinking and said, “I built them myself. I had to do a few favors for the US nuclear regulatory commission, but they managed to provide enough key parts to allow me to piece these together. Mine is actually faster than the one used by the US Department of Energy, it’s even faster than the Chinese supercomputers.”

“How’s that possible?” Zeus asked.

“Simple, I figured out a way to work the four in parallel and in series, at the same time. All the ‘so-called experts’ said it couldn’t be done, but I figured it out,” Dr. Connors answered.

“But the laws of computer dynamics and even physics won’t allow for both of those to happen at the same time,” Zeus insisted.

The doctor just laughed and replied, “You do know a little about computers Zeus, I’ll give you that. Unfortunately, like everyone else, you’re using conventional thinking. I solved the problem at the quantum level, not at the normal physical level. By conventional thinking it shouldn’t work, but it does.”

“How?” Zeus asked, still mystified by what the doctor was claiming.

“Basically, I put the four together in a way conventional theory says will never work. Because of the costs and the time involved, no one ever tried it to see what would happen. They simply accepted the theory as fact. I’m better at putting things together, taking readings and measurements, and then deciding what will and will not work. It only took a few adjustments to get everything synched together,” the doctor replied.

“And how long did the adjustments take?” Zeus asked.

“Four years,” Dr. Connors answered very matter-of-factly.

Zeus could only shake his head. He had always known the doctor was dedicated to his one goal of eliminating the shifter virus, but his patience and stamina seemed to have no bounds.

“You are responsible for all of this,” Dr. Connors stated, “I took the money you sent me while I was in school and I invested it in several stocks. That company in Seattle and the one in Texas, paid off in millions after just ten years.”

“I sent the money anonymously, for you to use while you were studying. I didn’t want you to have to get a job while you were doing the high level learning you were doing,” said Zeus.

“I was making money fixing radios, televisions and custom lamps on the side. I didn’t need your money, so I invested it. Then I took time to find out who had sent it to me. Since you are infected with the virus Mr. Zeus, I have an entire file on you.

I think I know everything except for your fascination with Gabriel and Mr. Oz. You have already told me about Gabriel being your grandson, but who, and more importantly, what, is Mr. Oz?” Dr. Connors asked.

“You might as well ask me who the white Alpha is. No doubt, you have found very little about my small friend, in fact your research may say he doesn’t exist, but we both know he does. I gave up trying to figure him out many years ago. He has saved my life time and time again and yet he asks for nothing in return. No amount of wealth, weapons, love or power, seem to interest him in the least. I just accept him as he is, a dear, dear friend with powers and abilities I’ll never understand,” Zeus answered honestly.

The doctor nodded, he wouldn’t give up, but as Zeus had said, he was a patient man. He would eventually have his answers about Oz. Right now, that was not a priority. He had finished piecing together the information he felt was relevant to Zeus and was printing it into one document.

A tiny, thin slot on the table Zeus was standing next to opened and out came a small stack of papers. Zeus picked them up and began looking over them. After a few minutes, he had read the entire packet.

“So, you believe the virus can be traced back to the Middle Ages and an alchemist named Paracelcus. You believe the Swiss-German scientist, born as Aureolus von Hohenheim, somehow created the virus or caused it to be unleashed onto humankind in the 1500’s.

You also believe Miss Stevens is a fake. Her birth certificate and school records are in order, but there is no record of any normal activities for her outside of these two documents. No visas, no passports, no credit card charges, no pictures, no friends or lovers anywhere.

All of this agrees with what a friend found out about Miss Grace as well,” Zeus said.

“A friend? They must have superior detective skills if they could find out any of this,” Dr. Connors declared.

“He is…or was, one of the best. A detective and agent of the old school. He was a ‘boots-on-the-ground’ kind of guy. Where you deal in the world of computers, he would go to the churches, hospitals and schools. If you had a friend, he would find them and they would willingly tell you what they knew. He was a master at persuading people and most of the time they never even realized he was doing it. His name was Pierre and I think looking for information on Miss Grace cost him his life,” Zeus answered.

“I’m sorry for your loss, but it sounds like your friend’s research backs up what I have here. What about the fact Miss Grace wasn’t even born yet when your family was attacked by the white Alpha?” Dr. Connors asked.

“My friend had an interesting theory, it seems he found several versions of our Miss Grace. It seems like as soon as one dies, another one takes her place,” Zeus stated.

“Amazing! That would explain a lot,” Dr. Connors began, “Theoretically, cloning of humans is not only possible, there’s been hints about it on the black-web for many years. Scientist claiming to be able to clone body parts and organs for people who need transplants or who are in danger of needing them. The science is there, has been for many years, but if your friend is right, Miss Stevens might have been the first. And much sooner than anyone thought possible.

It seems a little crazy, but no more so than you being healed in a matter of hours,” Dr. Connors stated.

Zeus knew the doctor was probing once again, but he ignored it.

“Even if all of this is true, what is the connection of Miss Grace to the white Alpha?” Zeus asked.

“Don’t you see what this means? If she can be cloned and is a clone of her former self, Miss Stevens could actually BE the white Alpha!” Dr. Connors replied.

Zeus had to sit down. It had been in front of him all along. He could have avenged his wife and daughter when he had the silver knife aimed at her heart years ago in his office. The day she came to see Gabriel for the first time. She was just a child, an egotistical, erratic child, but a child none-the-less.

“If she has had access to the kind of genetic knowledge required to clone a human, then she would also have all the knowledge necessary to add genetic improvements as well. Like taking a computer and adding more memory or a faster CPU. She could add specific sequences to her DNA which would give her tremendous powers, including the ability to become the white Alpha,” Dr. Connors explained.

Zeus was shocked. Why hadn’t he been able to put two and two together. He was a student of the Sherlock Holmes novels and often when dealing with mysteries in the shifter community he had said to himself, ‘Once all the possibilities are exhausted, whatever is left, no matter how impossible, must be considered possible’. But how had the previous version of Miss Grace and the white Alpha been killed?

Then he remembered the message from Pierre. After he had shifted, he had forgotten his friend’s conclusion. It seemed the last version of Miss Grace had died at about the same time as the attack on his wife and daughter. Could it be they had somehow managed to defeat the creature?

His daughter, Stazia, was perhaps the best warlock in all of North America, perhaps the world. Zeus had never told anyone except his wife that on several occasions during their training in the months before the attack, Stazia had defeated Zeus in sparring sessions. In fact, she had beaten him badly during their last training session together and he had declared there was nothing more he could teach her.

It somehow made him feel better to know the two women he loved most had been able to bring down the white Alpha in its earlier form. This Alpha would be even larger, stronger and undoubtedly deadlier. If it took Stazia, a better warlock than him, to stop the last one, how could he hope to stop this one? For the first-time Zeus allowed doubt to enter his mind.

What if he got Oz or Gabriel killed trying to take out the new version of the white Alpha? If he stopped this one, wouldn’t the next one be even more powerful? Zeus had planned to come here and get the information needed to find the white Alpha and then he would go and try to end its reign all by himself. Now, he wasn’t even sure if that was the right thing to do. He knew it had to be done, this creature could not be allowed to continue what it was doing, but how could he prevent the beast from coming back even stronger than it was now?

He explained as much to Dr. Connors. The two of them developed a two-pronged attack. Zeus would find the creature’s base of operation and make a plan to kill it. Dr. Connors would follow Grace’s money and discover who was making the clones and where the lab was located. If he could stop them, then Zeus would be free to end this one’s life without worry.

“Come with me, I have something I want to show you,” Dr. Connors said.

He walked to the back wall where the storage lockers were located. He pulled out a white, vest-like item and handed it to Zeus. The master warlock held it in his hands, but still wasn’t sure what it was. It was light and flexible and there were pieces of metal sewn directly into it. It was large, much bigger than Zeus, even bigger than Gabriel. Except for color, it was white instead of silver, it looked a lot like Apollo’s vests, but this one didn’t have the silver spikes.

“It won’t fit you now, but it will once you shift,” Dr. Connor started to explain.

A vest for a shifter? What was the doctor thinking?

“I saw how effective Apollo was when he attacked you at the compound and I realized he had an unfair advantage. His vest allowed him full range of movement, but he was also wearing armor. It made me realize the same technology might work for you, when you were shifted. I wasn’t sure how I’d ever get it on you, but if what you said earlier is true, and you have control of your shifted form, then now would be the time to give this a try.

Zeus slid the vest around his arms and pulled it to the front where it slid neatly together with Velcro-like material on each side of the opening. It was made of the same spider-silk, carbon fiber composite as Gabriel and Apollo’s clothing, meaning it would stop most bullets and sharp weapons. There was something running along the back of the vests, but Zeus couldn’t figure what it was or why it was there.

“Turn and drive your back into the front of the lockers,” Dr. Connors urged.

Zeus wasn’t sure why the doctor wanted him to do it, but he thought he might as well give it a try. Standing about a foot from the steel lockers, Zeus pulled the front of the vest tight around him as he thrust his back into the metal behind him. Like an airbag in a car, milliseconds before his back contacted the locker, Zeus could feel something moving along his back.

He was aware something had come out of the vest and penetrated the steel door of the locker behind him. He had to exert a good deal of effort to extricate himself from the door. Once he was away from the door, he felt movement again in the back of the vest. As he turned to look, he saw a neat double row of holes running the length of the door. He took the vest off but couldn’t see anything.

Dr. Connors watched as the master warlock held the vest like a matador enticing a bull and pushed it toward the door on the next locker. This time Zeus could see exactly what was happening. Just before the vest came into contact with the door, two rows of six-inch silver tipped spines appeared from the back of the vest. Almost ‘porcupine’ like, the spines retracted into the vest once he pulled the vest back away from the door.

“If anyone tries to attack you from the rear, you’ll have extra protection. Not only will the vest stop bullets and blades, it will destroy any shifter who wants to come up behind you or drops down on you from above. If they attack from the front, you’re on your own, but from what I saw at the Warlock Headquarters, they won’t have much luck coming at you from the front either,” Dr. Connors explained.

“Thank you, doctor. This is amazing. I know it had to be difficult for you to design something for a shifter,” said Zeus.

“Until recently that was true,” Dr. Connors said. “I know you didn’t ask to be infected and you have shown me when a good person gets infected, they can still be a good person, even in their shifted form. You and thousands of other shifters have found yourselves out of your cells after the transformation and yet you didn’t go on killing sprees like the shifters who killed my parents. I believe the virus may take a lot of your control away, but not your humanity. Those other shifters who give in to the urge to kill and hunt the innocent, they were wild and less than human long before they got the virus.”

“You are truly a wise and forgiving man Daniel Connors. I’m glad I may have played some small part in that and I’m glad you are my friend,” Zeus said.

That took Dr. Connors by surprise. He reached out his hand and shook Zeus’s. If the two of them could just survive for a while longer, they might be able to build a trusting friendship. Dr. Connors had never had a true best friend. The truth was, it might provide a healing relationship for both of them, if they could survive long enough.

Zeus took the vest and followed the doctor out of the vault. They each had their own job now and once out of the vault, Zeus left without looking back.