Page 47 - Contrast2013

cry of mortal agony, with blood shooting from the wound on his
throat as the venom flooded his system, stopping his heart and
turning his nerves to fire.
Still latched onto his victim’s neck, the victorious assas-
sin allowed himself to be tossed into the air by the president’s
thrashing and landed in a heap on the floor. It required an effort
on his part, but he would soon need room to maneuver. Less than
two seconds after the deathblow was struck the faltering efforts
of the victim and the rising wails of the first lady brought the two
door guards roaring into the room.
The Secret Service men took another two seconds to gape at
the sight of the room before whipping out their guns to open fire
on the intruding creature that had killed their leader. But that was
two seconds too long. Even as he hurtled through the air, Adrian
had initiated another change.
The floor of the room creaked and nearly split, not having
been designed to deal with a fully-grown Indian elephant ready-
ing himself for battle. Even as the guards freed their automatics
from their shoulder holsters, the great beast whipped around and
lashed them with trunk and tusks. Both full grown men were
raised three feet off the ground and flew into the hallway, their
broken and disemboweled corpses presenting a gory sight for
the reinforcements coming up the stairs.
But those reinforcements would never see the elephant
face-to-face. Whirling about, the fleeing felon charged past the
fainting lady and straight into the wall. It did not hold up. Even
reinforced construction materials must bow to the laws of phys-
ics, and 5,000 pounds of elephant flesh took off over the White
House lawn amid a shower of broken glass, wood, and plaster.
It was not, however, an elephant that struck the ground.
Tumbling through the air three stories above the ground, the
bloated grey body took on a more streamlined and aerodynamic
shape; feline, yellow with black spots, and able to whip itself
through the cold night with inhuman grace. When the cheetah’s

Contrast | 47