Nightmare Army

Where the hell am I? Mind whirling, Kuhn pushed himself to his stockinged feet, swayed unsteadily, and glanced over to find his wingtip shoes set neatly at the foot of the bed. He walked to the table, which was stocked with bottles of spring water in an ice bucket and a variety of energy bars. Removing the bottles, he opened one, swished a huge gulp of ice-cold water around in his mouth, then spit it out in the bucket. After draining the rest of the bottle, he found himself ravenously hungry and tore one of the bars open and devoured it. Selecting a second, he was peeling it open when he was interrupted by a click near the door and a familiar voice emanating from a concealed speaker somewhere over there.

“Greetings, Mr. Kuhn. I am glad to see that you are awake and recovered from your recent journey.”

Kuhn looked up from his protein bar in surprise. “Mr. Stengrave?” The water he’d just drank seemed to coalesce into a ball of ice in his stomach. He doesn’t know—he can’t know— “What’s going on here? Where am I?”

“You are a guest at my winter home, Stengrave Castle, on the north end of the Gulf of Bothnia.”

Kuhn knew the place his boss was talking about: a modern update of a medieval castle, built to Kristian Stengrave’s exacting specifications. He’d even visited the place once before, three years ago, a reward for certain top-level executives for surpassing their lofty sales goals, even during the recession that had been sweeping Europe at the time. But last night, he had been in Stuttgart—more than 1,500 miles away. Not only had he been kidnapped by the very company he worked for, but someone had brought him to this forlorn place near the top of the world—all without anyone being the wiser.

“Where is my family?”

“They are safe and sound at your home. They have been told that you were called away to a top-level emergency conference, so suddenly that you didn’t have time to contact them.”

“Okay... Why am I here?”

“You have been brought here to discuss a very serious matter—your attempted theft of proprietary research and materials for one of our rivals.”

Kuhn’s stomach lurched so hard he thought he was going to throw up, but he maintained his poker face while opening another bottle of water. “Sir, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

But of course he did; in fact, Kuhn was as guilty as hell. He worked as a computer programmer and analyst at one of Stengrave Industries’ facilities in Germany, producing top-of-the-line medical equipment for sale throughout the rest of the world. Hired straight from graduation at the top of his class at Heidelberg University, with a double major in computer science and business, he’d spent the past decade with the company, rising steadily through the ranks.

And yet it had never seemed to be enough. Although he was paid well, his wife had expensive tastes combined with a desire to keep up with their well-to-do neighbors, and when their children had arrived, the pressure to maintain their lifestyle had only increased.

So when a rival bio-manufacturing firm had offered him ten years’ salary to deliver test data on one of Stengrave’s most propriety lines of gene research, he had agreed, seeing a way out of his increasingly pressure-filled life. What he hadn’t counted on was how much more pressure he was under now; not only from his wife, but also from both masters, keeping appearances normal at his regular job while satisfying the increasingly strident demands of his new boss.

“Do not bother protesting your innocence, Mr. Kuhn, it will not help you. All of the evidence has been collected and presented to me, and I have already made my decision.”

Even though the room was perfectly comfortable, sweat appeared on Kuhn’s brow and the back of his neck. He gulped more water even as his gaze flicked to the door, which he knew was locked. “Okay, then why have you brought me here?”

“To offer you a chance to reclaim your lost honor.”

Of all the things his boss might have said, that was the last thing he expected. “Wha—what are you talking about?”

“Finish eating and we will discuss what will happen next,” Stengrave replied.

Kuhn tossed the bar on the table—there was no way he could stomach any more. “I’m ready now.”

“Very good.” The door clicked. Kuhn walked over to it and tried the handle. The door swung open easily under his touch, and he walked into the next room.

Lights came on as he did, revealing a long hallway lined on both sides with full suits of armor. As the door to the other room closed behind him, Kuhn blinked and stared at the at least two-dozen suits standing silently in the hall, ten on either side, each one on its own small dais; a warrior’s uniform from another time.

In the middle of the room was a rack of swords, containing various blades from a typical medieval long sword to what looked like a Scottish claymore. Other than the armor and the swords, the room appeared to be empty. There was a door at the end of the room, but it had no knob or handle.

“Mr. Stengrave?” Kuhn asked. “What is all this?”

“As I said...” His boss’s voice came from somewhere in the room. “It is a place for you to reclaim your honor.”

“I—I don’t understand.”

“Choose your weapon.”

Kuhn frowned. “What?”

“Choose your weapon. There are twenty suits of armor in this room. I am in one of them. If you select the correct one and strike me, you will be free to go. If you do not select the correct one, then we will fight to the death.”

Kuhn’s blood pounded in his ears as he heard the terms of his “exit interview.” He shook his head. “This is insane! You can’t just kidnap me and hold me hostage and set up this ridiculous contest like some James Bond villain!”

“Yet you are here, and I am here. So it would seem that is exactly what is happening,” Stengrave replied in the same calm, measured voice.

“I refuse— I refuse to participate in this madness,” Kuhn said. “Have me arrested, tried, thrown in jail, whatever, I’ll deal with it. But this...this is madness.”

“Perhaps you should have thought of that before you chose to steal from my company—and me.”

Kuhn squinted as Stengrave spoke, trying to figure out where his voice was coming from. He studied the metal suits of armor closest to him, thinking it would be easy to figure out which one his boss was wearing, but each one looked as if it held a mannequin filling out the clothes underneath the polished steel plates. Even as he did this, a part of his mind screamed that all this had to be in some kind of nightmare, and that if he could just wake up, he’d find himself back at home, in bed next to his sleeping wife, and all of this would simply be a bad dream...

Except he felt his sweaty palms and his increased heartbeat, and the blood pounding in his ears, and knew—absolutely knew—that this was real, that it was happening to him right now.

“Surely you are not such a craven man that you would prefer the ignominy of a public trial,” Stengrave continued. “With your name dragged through the mud as you are found guilty—and you will be—and sentenced to a very lengthy prison term. Your wife and children will be forced to fend for themselves, and they will probably have to sell their home and move out of that wonderful neighborhood you’ve been living in for the past three years.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Kuhn asked while edging closer to the rack of swords. He had fenced in college, even done some reenactment fighting of the German sword techniques, but all that had been more than a decade ago. Plus, he wasn’t in the best shape after ten years of sitting at a computer behind a desk. His wife, Helene, had been hounding him to take better care of himself, but he had always said there’d be time for that later. Now he found himself desperately wishing he had listened to her.

“I am telling you this because if you face me and win, all record of your transgression will be erased. You will, of course, have to leave our employ, but no doubt a stellar recommendation from your immediate superiors will allow you to find employment elsewhere with ease...perhaps even with the company you’ve been moonlighting for.”

“You’ll have to excuse me for finding it hard to believe that you would simply let me go after all this.”

“Make no mistake, if you defeat me, you will have earned your freedom.”

“Okay...” Kuhn nodded. “And if I lose?”

“If you lose, you will be dead. Your family, however, will not suffer in your absence. As I said, they are not complicit in your crime, and I bear them no ill will. As a matter of fact, they would be eligible to receive the life insurance payout on your untimely death.”

“Sure—while you go to prison for murder.” Kuhn regarded the nearest few suits of armor, noticing that none had a weapon sheathed at its side. If he is truly in here somewhere, he’s unarmed right now...

“Mr. Kuhn, do you really think that I have not planned this down to the last detail?” his boss asked. “Officially, you will have died in an unfortunate car accident. And yes, there will be a scenario created that will explain the injuries on your body. Stengrave Industries will mourn the loss of one of its own, and due to the life insurance policy, including double indemnity for your tragic but accidental death, your widow and children will be able to live lives of comfort, rather than being forced to fend for themselves— She does have a degree, I recall, but has not worked since your children were born, yes?”

Kuhn’s head spun at the casual yet definitive way Stengrave has defined the two paths he faced, as if there were no other options at this point. He listened as Stengrave continued. “You have sullied the honor of your family name with your deception and insulted me, as well. All I am offering to you is a chance to make it right, for you to reclaim your honor and perhaps die with your integrity restored. And who knows, you may even win.”

“And what if I sit on the floor and refuse to participate in your crazy game?”

“Then eventually I will grow tired of waiting and come to kill you. But surely that is not how you wish to die, is it, Mr. Kuhn? Sitting passively on the floor, meekly accepting your fate? Your family forced to continue their lives knowing their father was a criminal—for I will definitely have to let them know of your misdeeds—”

Kuhn’s brow furrowed. “So now you’re trying to blackmail me into playing, fighting for my life?”

“I am offering something you will not find anywhere else—a chance to redeem yourself, to pass from this world to the next with your head held high.”

Kuhn looked back at the door leading to the room in which he had awakened, then at the hall of armor in front of him. As he stood there, he realized with a strange frisson of combined horror and honesty that Stengrave was right—there was only one way out.

“All right.” Striding to the rack of bladed weapons, he selected the long sword—the only one that even came close to the fencing blades he’d used in college, and tested its heft and reach. He couldn’t explain it, but it somehow felt...right in his hand. “I’m ready.”

“Good. You may begin at your leisure.”

Gripping the hilt in both hands, Kuhn slowly began walking down the rest of the hallway, searching for that one suit of armor that had the telltale sign of a real person inside it.

That one? Or maybe that one? He stared at each one, trying to discern something, anything that would give him the edge.

There! Spotting what he thought was a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, Kuhn whirled and drove the tip of the blade as hard as he could into the lower abdomen of a spectacular suit of fluted armor that was engraved everywhere with delicate golden filigree.

The armor suit tipped backward and crashed to the ground. On impact, the helmet flew off, revealing a mannequin’s featureless face.

Sword held high, Kuhn turned, looking for one of the suits to come at him. None of them moved. Come on...come on!

He lashed out at another suit nearest to him, this one a simpler, unadorned collection of steel armor. It, too, went over in a clatter of metal and mannequin limbs. Kuhn turned to the next one, only to find it had stepped off its dais and was coming right at him.

Stengrave rushed him like a striker charging for a loose ball—a striker sheathed in sixty pounds of metal.

Kuhn didn’t even think about trying to get his sword up—he just leaped out of the way. Stengrave didn’t change course or attempt to stop, however, he just kept going, only slowing once he’d reached the sword rack. Grabbing a heavy-bladed Walloon sword by its basket hilt, he whirled, slashing out with it in a move that would have sliced Kuhn’s chest open if it had connected.

The younger man, however, wasn’t there anymore. He’d gotten up and backed away, sword held out in front of him. Now armed, the six-foot-five Stengrave regarded him for a moment from inside a visored basinet that covered his entire head. Stengrave raised his sword in front of him in a brief but sincere salute, then began advancing on the smaller man.

Kuhn stepped back and then did so again. His foot brushed against a helmet that had fallen off one of the other suits, and he reached down, groping blindly for it, as he dared not take his eyes off his attacker. Stengrave kept coming, and just when Kuhn thought he’d have to abandon the piece, his fingers gripped an edge and he grabbed the helmet and whipped it up at Stengrave.

He’d thrown it in his opponent’s general direction, so the programmer was surprised to see his improvised missile clang into Stengrave’s helmet, throwing the man off course for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, Kuhn didn’t follow up with an attack, but instead darted off deeper into the hallway, trying to find a place to hide and hopefully figure out some way to take the armored man by surprise.

Despite the odds against him, Kuhn hadn’t felt this alive in years. Also, from what he had seen, he thought he might actually have a chance to take the other man. Stengrave’s closed-face helmet protected him, but it also limited his vision to a tiny strip right in front of his eyes. Plus, as the helmet was attached to the rest of the armor, it didn’t allow him to turn his head! Finally, there were many places where he wasn’t nearly as heavily armored, like his neck, elbow and knee joints.

If I can just take him by surprise, I might be able to pull this off, Kuhn thought. And I think I know exactly how...

Hiding behind the last suit of armor near the far door, he tried to get his breathing under control as he peeked out just enough to locate Stengrave. The bigger man had returned to the middle of the hallway, standing a few steps away from the rack of swords. Although he was looking around, Kuhn’s evaluation of his helmet was correct—Stengrave couldn’t turn his head. He ran through his plan one more time in his mind. Here goes...

He shoved the armor he was hiding behind over as hard as he could, counting on the movement to attract his boss’s attention. The moment he felt it tip, he ducked and ran, keeping low, down the row to the suit of armor closest to Stengrave.

The falling suit hit the floor with a clatter. Kuhn didn’t wait for Stengrave’s reaction, but shoved the suit he was standing behind over, as well, straight at the big man. His plan was to follow that up with an attack, hoping to injure the other man as he dodged the falling armor.

It wasn’t a bad plan, and went off more or less as he had planned it. The only trouble was that Stengrave ended up facing Kuhn to fend off the falling armor, and as such, saw the smaller man coming at him. Already committed, Kuhn kept going, even as Stengrave sidestepped the second distraction. Kuhn angled over to the other man’s left side, where his sword wasn’t, already raising his sword to swing down at the armored man’s left knee, hoping to chop into the joint and maim him.

Kuhn wasn’t exactly sure what happened next. As he started bringing his sword down he caught a blur of movement from Stengrave out of the corner of his eye, then it felt as though he had run into a horizontal railing with such force it knocked the breath out of him. He kept moving forward, his sword forgotten in his hand, even as he felt a strange pressure on his chest, which was gone as soon as he’d sensed it. He stumbled a bit, falling to one knee. Sensing that something wasn’t right here... Where did all this...blood come from? he wondered as he stared down at the pattering of droplets on the floor in front of him. With a gasp, he realized the front of his shirt wasn’t indigo anymore, but black...black with wet, fresh blood.

Oh, my God... A long, horizontal tear had cut his shirt in two. Kuhn moved numbing fingers up to pull the top part away, revealing a long slash across his stomach, through the abdominal wall lining and into his abdomen. With mounting horror, he thought he saw the pinkish-gray of his own intestines as he fell backward to sit on the ground. Blood was everywhere, on his hand, in his pants, covering his shoes. Oddly, there was no pain, which surprised him, as he would have thought being sliced open this way would have hurt like a son of a bitch.

Kuhn’s sword dropped from his other hand as a wave of weakness crashed over him. Dumbly, he looked up to see Stengrave looming over him. The owner of Stengrave Industries had raised his visor and now stared down at Kuhn with cold, slate-gray eyes. His face looked as if it might as well have been carved from granite. Again, he raised the sword, its edge now covered in blood, to salute him.

“You lasted longer than I expected. Farväl.”

Drawing the sword back, he swung it forward and down, the heavy blade slicing through Kuhn’s neck and spinal cord, and cutting off his head. It rolled to the ground while the jet of blood that spurted from the stump was already subsiding as the body fell backward to the floor.

* * *

KRISTIAN STENGRAVE REGARDED the body of his former employee as dispassionately as he did most of his investments. The strongest feeling he would admit to at the moment was annoyance—annoyance that someone in his employ, whom he had spent considerable resources to retain and improve—would have turned on him for such a base reason as money. It was only through the most fortunate circumstance that the hapless programmer hadn’t realized the true value of what he was stealing. If he had, then anyone he would have come in contact with, from his minders at the other company, to his family, would have had to have been killed, as well. Secrecy was simply that vital for his largest project, one that would irrevocably alter the world as humanity knew it.

Stengrave cleaned his sword and set it back on the rack before unstrapping his helmet and removing it, revealing sweaty, white-blond hair that fell to his shoulders. He tapped his wireless earpiece. “It’s done.”

The door at the far end of the hallway opened and a whip-thin man with a shaved head entered. Dressed in an impeccable three-piece dark gray suit, he walked to Stengrave, careful not to get any blood on his handmade shoes. “I sure hope that isn’t the severance package you have planned for me.” His voice held the smooth, supple tones of a top-class British education.

“Do not betray me, Mr. Firke, and you will never have to find out,” Stengrave replied, not taking his eyes off the body. “Have this hallway restored, and set up the accident as we had discussed.”

“Of course, sir.” The second man eyed the head with pursed lips. “I suppose there wasn’t any way you could have avoided beheading him, perhaps? That will make it more difficult to, uh, disguise his condition.”

“He deserved an honorable death. Just make it happen.”

“Of course, sir. Don’t forget that you have the update call in an hour. The lab in the Congo says it has news.”

That tore Stengrave’s gaze from the body, and he began divesting himself of the rest of the armor. “Excellent. I look forward to hearing about their progress. I suggest that you keep a travel bag prepared. If all goes well, you may be overseeing a field test shortly.”

“Of course, sir, I’ll prepare that just as soon as I’ve had this—” Firke nodded at the mess “—cleaned up.”

CHAPTER THREE

Sixty hours earlier

Dr. Gerhardt Richter sighed as he leaned back in his chair, trying to avoid the chill breeze blowing on the back of his neck. Shaking his head, he walked over to his single upright dresser, pulled out a black, silk scarf and draped it around his neck. Although the laboratory needed the air conditioning to maintain the temperature throughout the complex, it was difficult for him to get re-acclimated, particularly after two days in the field. Now, he always felt cold, no matter where in the complex he was, and that damnable breeze seemed to follow him around the room. Richter walked to the thermostat mounted next to the door and tapped it, not sure if the damn thing was regulating anything anymore.

This is not how groundbreaking science is achieved, he thought, activating the VOIP—voice over internet protocol—program on his machine. “The thermostat in my office is malfunctioning again, Sharene. Please get someone in maintenance to take a look at it as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir. Yours is the third complaint I’ve received, and maintenance is already looking into it. I’ll pass on the status update as soon they get back to me. Also, I just received word from the lab that they’re ready to begin the next round of tests.”

“Good, I’ll be there shortly.” Richter closed his computer and tucked it under his arm. With a grimace, he glanced at the roof above him one last time, as if willing it to stay up long enough for him to get out of the room. Rising from his desk, he left his cramped office and walked into the even more cramped hallway.

His backers had built the complex to be sturdy—at least, that’s what they had told him—but the German was forced to stoop as he walked, so that his balding head wouldn’t hit the ceiling. He was slightly concerned that he would develop a permanent hunch from the past five months of work.

After this, I’m due a long vacation, he thought, maybe somewhere sunny and bright instead of humid and hot all the time.

The idea cheered him a bit and he nodded to the other white-lab-coated men and women he passed as he headed for the main laboratory.

He stopped only once before passing two security men half carrying one of the test subjects—a quivering young African male—between them, with another technician trailing them.

“Hold it.” Richter thumbed back the sagging youth’s eyelid, revealing an eye that had rolled back into his head. “Where’d he come from?”

“He’s the security breach we recaptured at 2100 last night,” the tech said. “Filmed him killing a full-grown leopard out in the jungle. Emailed you the video this morning.”

“Right.” Richter pressed fingers to the young man’s neck. “Erratic heartbeat. I don’t like that. Place him in the guarded ICU and monitor his condition for the next twenty-four hours.”

“Yes, sir.” The three men left with their prisoner, and Richter continued on his way.

Arriving at his destination, Richter entered the airlock, waiting for the doors to close. He walked to the center of the small corridor, where a powerful stream of antiseptic air washed over him, removing any small biological organisms that might contaminate the lab. When the tone sounded, indicating his cleansing cycle was completed, he stepped into the next room.

The laboratory was state-of-the-art, with a half dozen of the current shift’s white-coated scientists working at computer stations and lab tables. One of them, a tall, Nordic-looking blond woman, noticed his entrance and walked over.

“Good afternoon, Doctor. Here to witness the next test?”

“Correct.”

“Good, we’re about to start. Follow me, please.” She led him to the other side of the laboratory, where a large, thick pane of laminated glass separated them from the occupants in the other room.