Chapter 21: "Check Your Weapons"

Captain Stein felt like he was being baked alive as he sat in the back of the cramped black van. It was one of two vehicles carrying a squad of soldiers who were speeding along the freeway. Their destination: the home of Doctor Forrest.

How many homes does this guy have? He hasn’t lived there for years, or so we thought. What else don’t we know about him?

Stein thought of the squad that had gone to the address they had for Doctor Forrest and feared the worst. He suspected he would never hear from Lieutenant Curtis again.

Little did the police know that The Brotherhood had been listening in to their conversations all day long. This Detective Ryder seemed to know what he was doing and he was leading them directly to Doctor Owen, one of the principal members of their scientific research team. Stein almost felt sorry for the detective. So much hard work, it was always a shame to steal a cop’s thunder.

The Brotherhood had used this tactic many times before but this time may be more difficult than usual. If their vans didn’t reach the house first then they would have the police to deal with in addition to the likely presence of them.

Captain Stein shouted to the driver. ‘How long to go?’

‘Only two or three minutes,’ said the driver.

‘Okay,’ Captain Stein announced to everyone in the van, ‘check your weapons and put your masks on.’

The soldiers all loaded their rifles and pulled black balaclavas onto their heads, wiping the sweat from their foreheads before they did so.

It had been a long time since Captain Stein or any other members of The Brotherhood had seen this much action. The Brotherhood had co-existed with them in a stable state for the past twelve months.

He had known all along that everything would change once Doctor Owen made progress in his research. They all did. The doctor was the key to the future of every living creature on the planet.

Captain Stein checked his rifle one more time as the van headed down the ramp, leading them off the freeway and into the tree-lined roads of the suburbs.