Apollo Steel Mysteries The Soulless: Apollo Steel Mysteries

By A.A. Mercer

A small Arizona town is plagued by misfortune. car accidents, murder, and then struck by a pandemic. A scientist found a way to help her communty through it all. But a new threat has emurged. as things are spirling out of control the local sheriff calls Apollo Steel to see if he could help.

what he finds is almost too much to handle. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.A. Mercer
• Release date: Jun 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223170020

A.A. Mercer

A. A. Mercer has written mystery, horror and thriller books. he likes to spend his time meeting fans and signing autographs in Tucson Arizona, 

Book preview

Prologue

A few months ago.

The creature moved through the desert looking for somewhere to hide. he could hear the coyotes in the dark and wasn’t sure what they would do with him. His deep-set eyes peered through the darkness hoping to find refuge in a cave or abandoned house. he could smell something in the dark and his brain told him it could be food. He didn’t know where, or what he was. He had forgotten his name years ago.

He saw a small campfire and moved closer; a man sat nearby in a camping chair unaware of the approaching visitor. The man in the chair was half-asleep when he saw something coming through the darkness. The creature smelled the dying campfire and could feel the warmth coming from it. he stood there for a minute, watching the embers die little by little.

Stay away! the man in the chair was awake. A gun in his thin hands. I don’t want no trouble. Just go on now. The revolver shook in the hands of the older man.

Something in the creatures mind made him defend himself, he swatted the man away sending him back. the creature had no emotion in his eyes as he watched the camper fly off his feet and land striking his head.

The fire was out. The warmth was gone.

He kept walking leaving the injured camper in the dark not ever knowing what he saw, he crawled to his chair which was now on its side and grabbed a pack next to it.

He needed to call 911, tell someone he had just been attacked by bigfoot.

The creature was growing tired. It was dark and he needed to rest. He saw a small wash with overgrown weeds and he felt it would protect him from being seen as he rested.

The deep blue van drove down the path to the overgrown wash and stopped.

Three men in hazmat suits stepped out and waded in the flooded wash, one of them carried a device similar to a medical detector. They were looking for an escaped experiment.

The leader waved the detector toward the reeds, his deep blue eyes scanned the horizon and the tall weeds which grew almost seven feet tall, Where are you? he said as he waved the device around. he took a few more steps, an odor like a dead animal began to make his nose itch, as he raised a hand to scratch his nose a high wine sounded.

Found him. The team began moving through the weeds and revealed a large form half-buried in the deep mud. The team began dragging the form from the mud and closer to the van.

I’ll take a quick read of his vitals and see if he’s dead. one of them said as he opened a medical bag and checked his heart.

I can’t read any vitals, and no pulse. I think he’s dead. the leader of the group, a man named Harris activated the radio on his shoulder. This is blackbird, we’ve found another, he’s dead.

The body had been partially eaten, bits of skin and torn cloth told them something had tried to make him a snack.

Suddenly the creature sat up and threw off two of the men as it sat up.

He’s alive? one yelled in surprise as he stepped back and reached for his gun.

The creature looked at the soldiers surrounding him and stepped back, a guttural sound came from his thick throat. It watched them as they attempted to contain him.

This is blackbird, the target is alive, will attempt to shut down nanites and contain. Harris said as he pulled out a long grey device the size of a remote control and pressed a button.

The device shut down the nanites in the creatures brain, at least that was what he was told.

Suddenly the creature staggered back and raised its hands to his head. The man-made creature moaned in pain and fell to the ground again.

We need to find the others. We have two more. I’ve called Louis and Oliver, they found one, he was taken to a civilian lab a few miles from here.

How did they get one? a soldier asked.

I would assume they found it and decided to keep it. Blackbird said and watched as the soldiers rechecked the creature. Report. He said as he watched them prepare for immediate burn.

It’s dead, and ready for total burn.

A round baseball-sized object was placed on the body and they moved back. Seconds later a bright flash engulfed the body until it was completely gone.

One down. They went back to the van and drove into the town.

They had been searching for four super soldiers somewhere out here for the last few months, they carried nanites in their blood and experimental cybernetic enhancements in their brains.

The black site had been hunting for missing tech for weeks, secretly finding and shutting down anything which would led to them.

Almost everything was found by the team.

They were almost done; a small town was nearby and they had to go there to check things out. It should be simple, go in, shut the cloning tech down, destroy it if necessary and get out before anyone knows your there.

Dr. Hanson had been remembering the few short years ago, when she found the genie and had no way of putting it back..

Dr. Hanson looked at the specimen laying on the lab table with curiosity.

Where dd you find him? she asked the scientists behind her.

The specimen was a man, nearly seven-feet tall and wore a simple coverall which was worn away in spots.

He was found in the Browning River wash; he was assumed dead. a hiker found him and we heard about it from the police scanner, we’ve been watching for these things, that government lab seems to be run by Dr. Frankenstein. There was an outbreak of something a few years ago, it killed a bunch of people and a part of military housing burned up due to a huge gas leak.

Dr. Hanson nodded, the lab techs were due for a vacation and since that lab didn’t seem to be looking for this guy she was going to use him.

The being was over six-feet tall and looked like it could easily lift a small tank.

Thick muscles and tendons, she could find stiches along the sides of his body, down its neck and across its head. Brain surgery? as she examined him she found hundreds of scars everywhere. How did you live through this?

Prep for exploratory surgery, I’m going to see what made him tick.

She took a sample of his blood