Free The Ancient Breed by David Brookover Page B

without being seen are the most significant challenges.”
    “Are we certain that the elixir’s even there?” Sloan questioned again. “All we have is the word of that pompous medical examiner.”
    Tobias stood and strode across the boardroom to the armored cabinet that protected the ancient archives. He opened the ponderous door and returned to the table with yesterday’s thermal readings of the site. He spread them across the table, nearly spilling Sloan’s clear refreshing drink.
    “Hey take it easy, Tobias,” he whined.
    Tobias smiled and bowed. “I was a bit careless, wasn’t I?” There was no hint of remorse in his tone.
    “First, our flyover scans go deeper into the ground,” Grant explained. “Look, there’s the gray square displayed on the Warnke scans.” His index finger pointed to the area. “But what they don’t know is that the guardian’s pillars and the sacrificial circle are there as well.” He pointed to a sizeable circle and two small circular shadows on their scans.
    “Knowing Tobor’s flair for the dramatic, that’s how he kept the local savages under control. This has got to be the place,” Tobias said. “ Our elixir is there.”
    “Little did the old sorcerer know that his property would end up sinking into that damn swamp,” Sloan groaned.
    “It wasn’t luck, Sloan. It was brilliant planning on his part,” Tobias conceded. “After all, none of us has been able to find his place in four thousand years.”
    “Yeah, I suppose. Devious son-of-a-bitch,” Sloan begrudgingly agreed. “But what I can’t figure out is what tipped you off that this particular site is the one ?”
    Grant grinned. “The discovery made by Warnke’s construction workers. You know, the deformed bones?”
    “Big deal. What’s the significance of a few bones?”
    Tobias sighed. “Sloan, you never were much good at understanding what you see. Remember when we experimented on the half-breeds with Tobhor’s improved formula after we fled Europe? They drank the elixir and grew younger for a brief time, but then the elixir altered a few of their genes that we purebloods don’t possess. Instead of preserving their youth, the elixir changed them into those blood-thirsty little brutes.”
    “Think of them as a cross between a pygmy cannibal and vampire,” Grant appended.
    Sloan whistled. “Now I remember those savages!”
    “The ancient breed,” Tobias reminded him impatiently. He couldn’t tolerate fools. “God, I hope you’re satisfied now.”
    Sloan nodded uneasily.
    “Now back to the logistical problem of how we remove the elixir from Tobhor’s little fortress. Any suggestions?” Grant asked.
    “I believe our solution is to pump the elixir from the fountain into sterile tanks, and then deliver half of it to our warehouse in Baltimore and the other half to a temporary site in the Midwest. I don’t think we want to put all our eggs into one vulnerable basket,” Tobias expounded. “The stuff’s too valuable.”
    Grant and Sloan glanced at each other and nodded.
    “I’ll check into some Midwest storage rental sites,” Grant volunteered.
    “Good idea,” Tobias said. “Okay, gentlemen, is there anything we’ve overlooked?”
    “Yes and I’m afraid it’s a major oversight,” Grant replied.
    Tobias arched his brows. “Really? What’s that?”
    Grant leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table. “The Zyloux.”
    Tobias chuckled. “That demon? Hell, no one’s reported seeing it for over five hundred years. My guess is that it no longer exists in this dimension.”
    “I beg to differ. Alick Tobhor wouldn’t give up his watchdog so easily. He was a smart magician, much like Xavier Wolfe and his family from Duneden, Ohio.”
    “Yes and look what happened to them. Xavier and his entire family are either dead or exiled from this dimension,” Tobias countered. “And I believe Tobhor’s dead, too. And don’t forget that we’ve been duplicating Tobhor’s elixir for