Ride the Dragon by Shéa MacLeod

Author:Shéa MacLeod [MacLeod, Shéa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sunwalker Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

"What do you mean?" Rain slipped her hand into Micah's, giving it a small squeeze. "What did you do to Micah?"

"We were losing the war. The entire military had been decimated. Even nuclear warheads had no effect on the drags. We needed a new kind of weapon and a new kind of warrior, so they hired me to do just that."

"And how ... how did you do it?" Micah's voice cracked with emotion.

Barnes shrugged and sank down onto a nearby stool. "The one thing on the planet that could cut through dragon scale was diamonds. Some D & D yahoo made a sword based on the old claymores the Scottish Highlanders used to carry in battle. Only he edged the thing in diamond shards. Worked like a charm. Problem was an ordinary man couldn't wield the thing long enough to be effective without getting himself killed."

"But you obviously solved the problem," Rain said.

"Of course. What we needed were Super Soldiers. Men strong enough, fast enough and with enough stamina to wield the diamond blades against the dragons. Not to mention smart enough to stay alive. So, we did a little gene splicing here and a few hormone injections there and some chemical brain surgery and voila!"

"Brain surgery?" Rain was truly horrified. They'd messed with Micah's brain?

"Well, yes. In a way. In order to be effective, the soldier had to be fearless and free of past loyalties, focused entirely on destroying dragons. The only way to do that was to erase all memory and replace it with the drive to kill. The most effective way of achieving that was with a combination of chemical and physical brainwashing, if you will."

The thought made Rain sick. She glanced at Micah. He was pale as a ghost. She couldn't blame him. "What about this gene splicing thing?"

"Ah, that," Barnes looked pleased she'd asked. "That was easy enough. We've been playing with genetic manipulation for decades. After several disasters I finally found the right method. They provided a brilliant specimen, a real hero." He nodded at Micah. "I simply added a bit here and there to make him perfect."

"You mean you added parts of other people?" Rain couldn't help the tone of horror that crept into her voice.

"Well, the DNA of other people, yes."

"Was one of them named Jones?" Micah's voice was hoarse.

Barnes thought for a moment, tugging slightly at his lower lip. "Yes, now you mention it. Intelligent young man. Unusually fast reflexes. Terrible nicotine habit. He was killed in action nearly two decades ago, but not before I was able to harvest his DNA."

He beamed at them as though he'd done something spectacularly wonderful. Rain just felt sick. And if the look on Micah's face was anything to go by, so did he.

Barnes rubbed his hands together. "And now you've returned him to me, I can finish what I started."

"Excuse me?" Rain couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.

"He's good, of course, our Micah, but he's not the perfect soldier. Not yet."

"I don't think so, Barnes.

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