Chapter 7

Carlos Cruz was nearly howling with rage when they passed the sign that said welcome to Kansas City Missouri. It was almost 10 AM the day after the debacle at the coffee shop. The trip from Houston to Kansas City was a solid 12 hours by car and his convoy had started much later than Carlos wanted to. He had killed two more of the illegal immigrants and one of their brats while waiting to leave. It was the only way to satiate the rage boiling through his mind. He wasn't worried about killing the illegals. His men brought several hundred or more across the border every day that he could choose from and there were a million more where they came from. Someplace in the recesses of his mind he did regret killing one of his own men when the rage became too much to manage and another illegal wasn't close enough for him to reach before losing control.

He punched a speed dial on his phone and growled, "Report," after it was answered.

"Si Patron," the voice said. "They are building up their defenses at the old man's hacienda as if everyone were hiding there. I found out this morning that Rizzo, his family, and his inner circle left and will hide at one of his farms. They ran like cowards to let their men face your anger," the voice said.

"Where can I find the farm and how many defenders are there?" Carlos demanded in a voice that sounded like bones grinding.

"There are about 20 men at the farm but I also found out there is a bunker they can hide in. I've sent a man to get the building plans so I can know where it is and how to get access to it."

"Where is the farm?" Carlos barked into the phone. The voice told him and Carlos growled, "text it to me then get that information about the bunker to me ASAP."

"Yes sir," the voice said in a near panic before hanging up. Moments later the phone beeped with an incoming text message. Carlos copied the address into a mapping program and cursed again. He hit the send button on a radio and said, "Turn around and go west on I-70 then south on Kansas state route 7. We are looking for a town called Bonner Springs."

Carlos chuckled to himself when he felt the SUV slow. "You can run from me old man," he laughed to himself quietly. "But you can't hide from me."

Forty minutes later Carlos ordered the six vehicle caravan to enter a large park on the east side of Bonner Springs. The one carrying Carlos parked near the center of the park and the five others created a perimeter around their leader.

Two calls from Carlos had the rest of the men and women on his payroll in the Kansas City area moving toward the park. Carlos calculated that he would have over 100 soldiers with him during the attack on the farm. He instructed them to bring at least two women for him to use to quench his rage while they waited to attack. The information about the bunker at the farm was delivered to him by 2PM.

"It's not a fucking bunker," Carlos sputtered in rage. "They built the barn over and damn missile silo." His countenance twisted and darkened and changed. His vision reddened and he started to reach for one of the young girls that had been provided for him.

The SUV that Carlos rode in was specially designed to be more like a limousine in the back seat than a standard SUV. Two bench seats facing each other took up the entire SUV behind the driver's compartment. The man that brought the information cowered as far from Carlos as he could get in the back seat of the SUV. He was only dimly aware of the girl trying to crawl behind him to get away from the monster before him. He was horrified when Carlos's head seemed to lengthen and narrow into something inhuman and the burning slits of the eyes felt like they were trying to burn through him.

"Padre en el cielo me protege," the man prayed hysterically. The man had asked God his Father in heaven to protect him and he made the sign of the cross.

The target of Carlos's rage changed from the girl to the man. Clawed fingers sunk into the man's throat as Carlos screamed, "Do you think that useless has-been can protect you? Can't you see that the old man you are begging protection from has no power over me?" Carlos reveled in the warm spurts of blood from the man as his claws opened the man's carotid arteries. The man's hands tore at Carlos's arms and ripped the sleeves of Carlos's shirt revealing grey scales. Carlos basked in the waves of terror coming from the man even more than the blood. He dimly wondered when he had become so addicted to the emotions of pain and horror. He wondered when he became able to sense those emotions. His thoughts were roughly shoved aside and the man's blood slowed to a dribble while his terror became fuzzy before fading away.

Carlos tossed the man on the floor of the SUV before turning to the girl with a snarl. He saw that she was a girl on the cusp of womanhood and he smiled. The fangs revealed by the smile were not reassuring and the girl screamed in terror again. She was covered in the man's blood. Her feet continued to scrabble on the floor of the SUV as she tried to get farther away. Carlo's smile turned into a grin full of sharpened teeth. His rage was partially sated by killing the man so he could take his time now. He didn't need to kill immediately. He had plenty of time to bask in the girl's terror.

Carlos started laughing a little later. The girl still weakly struggled under him and her cries of pain and fright had faded into breathy sounds because her screams had torn her throat so badly. He was laughing because he had just realized something. His targets could hide in the missile silo but they had no place else to go. They couldn't get away. They would be trapped. His laughter turned to howls of glee as the girls terror faded and her body went limp. Her body was cooling when Carlos quit abusing it and he shoved both bodies out the door with orders for someone to dispose of them. He was ready to attack but decided to wait until sundown. He was in his element in the darkness of the night and he was stronger.