James Axler – Stoneface

“Yes.”

“You sacrificed an entire sec squad for a test?”

“That’s what they’re here for,” Hellstrom replied.

“What’s the second reason?”

Hellstrom hooked a thumb in the general direction of Mount Rushmore. “You heard me tell the beetle that the harvest was delayed?”

“Yeah. So?”

With a hand wave, Hellstrom indicated the corpses spread out around the campsite. “Behold the harvest.”

Ryan’s face twisted. “The organs. That’s why Fleur had such a hair up her ass about head shots.”

“Exactly. We need hearts, livers, lungs and the occasional pancreas. Since I spared you people from the harvester’s knives, I had to arrange a new crop from someplace.”

“You lured the Indians to you. How could you be so sure they wouldn’t have harvested all of our scalps?”

“I wasn’t. Hence the gas attack.”

Ryan sighed, shook his head and said, “You know what’s really sick about this, Lars? It makes sense.”

“I hoped you’d see it my way.”

Doc, who had managed to regain most of his breath, husked out, “In the land of the ghoul, whoever has the most viscera wins.”

A smile creased Hellstrom’s lips. “Something like that, yes.”

“You’re overlooking one thing,” Ryan said. “We now outnumber you. There’s nothing to stop us from boosting your wag, dumping you here for the Sioux to find among the mutilated bodies of their friends and relatives and continuing on our journey.”

Hellstrom shook an admonishing finger. “I’m surprised at you, Cawdor. You’re overlooking one thing. A very obvious thing. Only someone who knows the correct sequence can start up the AMAC. If you fumble around, you’ll blow it and yourselves to atoms. Besides, there’s just enough fuel to return to Helskel.”

“Lame bluff,” Jak commented.

“Hardly. It’s a standard security procedure to wire an antipersonnel device to the engine of a sec wag to keep thieves at bay. I’m sure your precious Land Rover is equipped with something similar. Am I right?”

He was, and it grated on Ryan’s nerves to acknowledge it. The Helskel chieftain had them exactly where he wanted them. Different strategies cartwheeled through Ryan’s mind. Even hijacking the wag once it was underway would be a pointless exercise, since they would be forced to go in the opposite direction of Helskel. And with a limited quantity of fuel and no idea where to obtain more, they would be stranded and vulnerable to the Sioux. He couldn’t count on the sparing of Joe’s life to save them from warriors seeking to avenge this night’s chillfest.

Nor could they rely on J.B.’s expertise to deactivate whatever explosive device might be wired to the AMAC’s innards. As the weaponsmith had mentioned more than once, it was quite possible to construct a bomb that would detonate no matter what you did to disarm it.

“You’re right,” Ryan admitted. “So what’s the plan?”

“We’ll harvest our crop and return to Helskel at daybreak.” Hellstrom frowned as he looked over the bodies of his sec squad. “It appears that a few of our novitiates will have to be promoted sooner than expected.”

“I’m surprised you don’t want us to fill the vacancies,” Ryan said sarcastically.

“Oh, by no means,” Hellstrom replied cheerfully. “I have far greater ambitions in mind for you, Cawdor. Believe me.”

Ryan believed him.

Chapter Fourteen

Fleur and the battered survivors of the sec squad worked the rest of the night and well into the early-morning hours, separating the victims of head and neck shots from those who bore wounds in their torsos.

Ryan was curious to see if they would remove the organs on the spot, but Fleur and her men employed another practice, no less grisly and bloody. Plastic body bags were removed from a rear compartment of the AMAC, and three corpses were snugged inside a single bag.

Of course, the bodies were first decapitated and the arms and legs amputated in order to facilitate easy packing. The limbs and heads were tossed down the incline toward the creek. Once the torsos were crammed belly-to-butt-to-belly inside the bags, containers of dry ice were emptied into them. The bags were then tightly closed with zippers and hermetic seal locks.

It was apparently an operation Fleur and the rest had engaged in many times before. Their skill with knives, bone saws and other surgical implements was very efficient.