*****
Maria and Ryan headed to Bagdad to find another hotel room that they could use as their staging place. Ryan needed to make contact with Jim and have more C-4 and detonators sent. By night fall they had a new motel room outside of Bagdad and Jim had been contacted, Ryan and Maria had their information and a map of the area laid out on the table.
“We seem to be pretty central to the locations of the other fallen’s temples. The only one we need info on is going to be Mehen. I didn’t figure on him being involved., I figured on this just being the female fallen.” Ryan said.
“So where do you guess they might have gone?”
“That is the million dollar question. They could have gone to any of the temples they all seem to be within a few hundred miles from each other.”
“Look at it from the bright side, if we pick one and they are not there then we destroy it and that’s one less place they have to hide in.”
“Good Point.”
“Where do you want to start?”
“Well we have An Nukhayb , Al Jadihab, Chard, Nami, Balad or Simaria to choose from, they could be at any of them.”
“What about starting with the farthest away and move in closer as we complete our search of each one.”
“I like that idea it also keeps us moving back in if we need more supplies.”
“Then it sounds like we start in Simaria.”
“Let’s get a good night of sleep and head out in the morning.”
“I’m all for that.”
They started the trip to Simaria after they ate breakfast and Maria was searching for information on Mehen as they drove. Maria searched for any information that she could find and she was coming up without much luck. The only thing she could say for sure is that he came from Egypt.
“I think we should not concern ourselves with Mehen right now and deal with him if we have to, I just cannot find anything about him.”
“Ok but I want you to keep trying there has to be something more on him.”
“I can do that.”
The rest of the trip was made in silence as Maria was busy trying to find more information of Mehen and Ryan was thinking about how to deal with the female fallen if they were at this temple in Simaria. When they arrived at Simaria they set out to locate the old temple that belonged to Vepar. They concentrated their search in what was the ancient city of Amiar. The old city was destroyed when the wars in Mesopotamia had take place centuries ago.
The area around the ancient city had been extensively dug up by the government of Iraq. Many of the artifacts had been removed and placed in museums around the world. Ryan and Maria talked with many of the people that lived near the old city to find out anything they could tell them about the old city and Vepar.
They spent the next three days speaking with the elder’s of the villages that were dotted around the old city of Amiar. The common item that they were receiving was there had been a small river that flowed about five miles north of Amiar and it was said that a small temple was there. Many digs had taken place in the area but nothing was ever found.
Ryan and Maria set out with a guide from one of the villages and led to the spot where it was said the river was. They searched for two days for any sign of the temple and were ready to give up when Maria found the remains a small well and when she told Ryan about it they concentrated their search around the well. It took another two days before they found what appeared to be a entrance carved into the rock in a small hill.
Ryan dug his flashlight out of his pack and shined it into the entrance and the light only lit up about twenty feet into the tunnel. Ryan decided he would take flashlight and two of his nine millimeter pistols and a couple of extra clips of ammo and belly crawl into the tunnel. The tunnel was just barley large enough for Ryan to crawl thru, many times his shoulders scrapped the sides of the tunnel. It was obvious that no one had been in this tunnel in years as cobwebs were all over the tunnel.
Ryan had crawled almost fifty feet when he heard voices he shut off his flashlight and moved forward as quietly as possible, he had covered another twenty feet and rounded a bend in the tunnel when the tunnel opened up to a large room brightly lit with steps leading up to a temple with double doors. Ryan laid there looking at the open room and it appeared to be a arena of some type. The steps leading up to the temple were blocked by a small wall. Ryan saw four demons at the doors to the temple and they were talking about something that Ryan couldn’t make out.
Ryan pulled out one of his nine millimeter pistols, he was wishing that he had brought along one of the sound and flash suppressors. The sound of the pistol going off would be deafening in here. The shots to take out the demons was only around fifty yards and would be an easy shot. He would have to rapid fire the shots to take out all four demons.
The sound from the first round from the nine millimeter would be to Ryan’s advantage as it would not allow the demons to pinpoint his location because of the echo but the fact that he was surrounded by the darkness of the tunnel would most likely allow the demons to find him by the second shot because of the flash of the shot.
Ryan took aim at one of the demons and squeezed the trigger, he shifted his aim before the bullet had covered the fifty yards and squeezed the trigger again. The first two demons fell to the ground and burst into flames and disappeared, one of the two remaining demons must had been scanning the room because he pointed to Ryan’s location. It was the last thing he ever did as Ryan shot him in the head and he like the other two demons fell and burst into flame.
The fourth demon spread his wings and took off towards Ryan’s location. Ryan hit him in the shoulder with his next shot and the demon screamed out in pain but kept coming at Ryan. Ryan took aim on the demons head and squeezed the trigger again and this time he hit the demon in its head and the demon fell from his flight and hit the ground. The demon hit the ground and burst into flames and disappeared.
Ryan watched the doors to the temple for a moment to see if any more demons would be coming out. When none appeared he crawled the rest of the way out of the tunnel and made his way to the rooms floor. He jumped the short wall that blocked the stairs to the temple doors and made his way up the stairs to the doors of the temple. He opened the doors and found the temple inside lit brightly. He watched for any movement but saw none.
Ryan moved about two feet into the temple when he spotted the red dot of a laser on the floor next to him. Ryan froze he thought about it for a second and he figured that either someone didn’t want him here and had a laser scope getting ready to shoot him in the back or it was Maria trying get his attention. He guessed it was the later as if someone was going to shoot him they would not have warned him by allowing the laser to appear on the floor. He totally relaxed when the red dot started to spell out Maria on the floor.
He turned and looked up at the tunnel and he saw Maria standing on the ledge outside of the tunnel. Ryan caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and pulled out his nine millimeter again and snapped a shot in the direction of the movement. The movement of Ryan had startled Maria and she fell to the floor just as a demon flew over where her head had been. Ryan took more care aim with his next shot and the bullet hit the demon in the head just as it was turning to make another pass at Maria. The demon fell to the floor of the room and exploded into flames and disappeared. Maria got up and carefully looked around the room and she only saw Ryan standing at the temple doors. She made her way to Ryan and when she reached him she grabbed him around the neck and hugged him and kissed him. When the embrace was over between Ryan and Maria Ryan said, “We better search the temple and make sure that there are no other demons here of anyone else for that matter.”
“That sounds like a good idea I really don’t want any more surprises.”
Ryan entered the temple followed by Maria and the quickly searched each room in the temple and found nothing, they met back in the main room of the temple and he looked at Maria and said, “I don’t believe that this tem
ple has only this main room and four smaller rooms, we had to have missed something.
“I agree let’s search the temple again.”
“Agreed but let’s stay together, I don’t want to get separated.”
They began searching each room carefully, When they came to the second room Maria found what looked to be a door but there was no handle or anything that she could see that opened the door. She called Ryan over and he inspected the door. Ryan did not see any obvious way to open the door, he searched both sides of the wall looking for something hidden and didn’t find anything. He tried putting all of his weight against the door but it didn’t budge, he stepped back and wondered what could open the door. As Ryan examined the door and the area around it he saw the two sconces on either side of the door. He thought no it couldn’t be as easy as what they show in the movies. He reached up to the right sconce and tried to pull it but it didn’t move, he then tried to twist it and to his surprise it easily twisted to the right and the door opened.
Ryan turned and looked at Maria and said, “Is she Egyptian?”
“Not anywhere that I have found information says she is.”
“Ok let’s move in slowly and stay behind me.”
Ryan had moved in about ten feet when he felt something give under his foot. He froze dead in his tracks and yelled “Freeze.”
Maria froze where she stood. Ryan looked down and he saw that the block he was standing on and dropped about a quarter of an inch. “Damn it all to hell.” He said.
“What is it babe?”
“I think it is a booby trap, I need you to go and find something really heavy back in the main room.”
Maria turned around and ran back into the main room and started looking around for something heave and she found a big wooden chair. She tried to pull it but it was too heavy. She tried to push it and it slowly started to slide across the floor.
While Maria was gone Ryan inspected the trap, he really didn’t see where anything might cause him harm. He guessed that when he stepped off the trap that something would come out of the walls or the roof and kill him. Maria arrived out of breath from pushing the chair. Ryan moved as slow as he could while Maria pushed the chair onto the trap.
Ryan pulled out a brick of C-4 and placed small pieces of it on the chair, he placed a detonator in each piece and slowly stepped off of the trap. He instructed Maria to back out of the hall and take cover away from the door. Ryan followed Maria and when he was clear he set off the detonators and parts of the chair flew out of the door. Ryan went back into the hall and found that metal spears had come out of the walls and the floor and the roof. The spears would have stabbed him all over his body. But now the spears blocked the hall. He got out the brick of C-4 again and pulled off more pieces and placed detonators in them. He stepped back out of the hall and detonated the C-4. When he walked back into the hall the metal spears had been sheared off creating a opening they could get thru.
They made their way past the spears and slowly moved to the end of the hall, there was no handle to open the door so he tried the sconces again first the right one and it did not move then the left it moved easily and the door opened. Ryan and Maria stepped thru the door and standing there with the ugliest creature Ryan had ever seen was Vepar.
“So you got past my trap, you are a sly one.”
Maria spoke, “Ryan be careful that is a hellhound she has with her very dangerous.”
“Vepar surrender now and pledge your loyalty to the Lord God and I will let you live.”
“The lord Lucifer is my master and I will never again bow down to your god.”
“The you shall die Vepar.”
Ryan held up his hand and the Angel Sword appeared, Vepar brought up her sword to defend herself but she released the hellhound and she attacked at the same time. Ryan took the sword and swung at the hellhound, the last thing he wanted was the claws or teeth getting a hold of him.
The sword cut a long gash in the right arm of the hellhound. Ryan knew it was big when he first saw it but it stood over nine feet tall and Ryan knew he was going to have his hands full. While Ryan was more involved with the hellhound Vepar brought her sword across the back of Ryan.
Ryan winced with pain but kept up his attack on the hellhound. He swung his sword at the head of the beast and the sword just bounced off not have any effect on the creature. Ryan sidestepped the creatures attack and he hit it on the back with the sword. The sword cut a long deep slice into the beast. It let out a howl of pain and it hit the wall behind Ryan. Ryan stepped the wrong was dodging the beast and Vepar stabbed Ryan in the leg with her sword.
Vepar tried to bring her sword to bear again but Ryan blocked her swing and knocked the sword out of her hand. Ryan went to swing his sword at Vepar but the hellhound grabbed him and tossed him across the room like a rag doll. Ryan slid into the table in the room and caused him to shout out in pain. The hellhound move very fast for his size and covered the ten feet between them quickly.
The hell hound reached down for Ryan but he managed to swing the sword and cut the left hand off of the hellhound. The beast recoiled back in pain as it starred at spot where his missing had been. Ryan swung the sword at the beast’s head but again it had no effect on the beast.
Ryan brought the sword around on the back swing and managed to cut the leg of the beast. It pulled back away from Ryan and tried to figure out how it was going to get it’s claws or fangs into Ryan.
Vepar joined the attack on Ryan again coming in with her sword aimed right at Ryan’s head. Ryan spun out of the way and sparks flew from Vepar’s blade as it struck the concrete floor. The hellhound came at Ryan again and he swung the Angel Sword again only this time right at the beasts neck. The blade sliced right thru the neck of the beast cutting off the head of the beast. The hellhound fell to the floor, Vepar stood there in shock and awe looking at her hellhound. No one had ever come close to beating it much less succeeding at beating it.
Seeing that Vepar was in shock Ryan brought his sword up and swung it across the neck of Vepar. She tried to block the swing but was too late she stood for a few seconds before he body collapsed to the floor and burst into flames and disappeared.
Maria rushed over to Ryan and quickly examined him and found the cuts and gashes that the hellhound and Vepar had inflicted on Ryan, She tore pieces of cloth from her blouse and covered Ryan’s wounds. Ryan said, “Let’s put charges around this place and blow it.” Maria just nodded.
Maria helped Ryan up and then helped Ryan place the charges in each room with a detonator that would be connected to a timer. Once back in the main room of the temple Ryan connected each detonator wire to the timer and he set the timer of one and a half hours giving them ample time to crawl back thru the tunnel. Half way out of the tunnel Ryan placed another charge and connected this one to a wireless transmitter and receiver, he would set this charge off once they were clear of the tunnel. When they emerged from the tunnel the light was almost blinding and the heat was oppressive. Ryan sat on the sand and said, “once I set this charge off that temple will be sealed forever. When the charges inside go off the temple will be lost forever and I suspect we will have one irate female fallen on our hands.”
“The way I see it, it will be her loss and it will make it easier to find them.”
“Do you want the honors this time?” handing Maria the wireless transmitter.
“”I would love to.”
Maria pushed the button on the transmitter and a large rumble came from the tunnel and dust and dirt flew out of the opening. It was just a matter of minutes before everything settled and Ryan loaded up their Hummer and then moved the Hummer a mile away from the entrance to the tunnel and they sat and waited for the next blast to happen. They didn’t have to wait long before the ground started to shake, Ryan checked his watch and said “Right on time.”
The ground continued to shake and Ryan and Maria watched as a huge dust cloud formed in the area they had just left. When the ground stopped shaking M
aria started the Hummer and they drove back to the area where the tunnel was. They traveled about three quarters of a mile and had to stop. The blast in the temple had caused a large cauldron in the sand.
“How much of the explosive did you use?” Maria asked.
“Only about a pound in each of the rooms. I would guess that when the blasts occurred in each room they filled with the sand from up here causing this cauldron.”
“Oh ok, sounds logical to me.”
“I think we should head back to the motel and see if Jim’s package has arrived yet., and decide where to go next.”
“Great but let’s stop and get something to eat, I’m starving, I also need to treat your wounds when we get back.”
“Good idea I’m kind of hungry myself and you know me I make a lousy patient when I’m hungry.”
They headed back to the motel and stopped for a meal on the way, by the time they got back to the motel it was after nine in the evening. Ryan opened the door and sitting on the floor was two box’s, Ryan checked the box’s and they were from his buddy Jim back in San Diego. Ryan opened each box and found another seventy five pounds of C-4 and detonator’s. Ryan repacked each box and took them to the back of the Hummer and stowed them away.
When he reentered the motel room he found Maria busy at the computer trying to find out more information on Mehen, and it looked like she wasn’t having much luck. Ryan told Maria to take a break and get some rest he was planning on going to Balad tomorrow it was about a four hour drive. If there is a temple there it would belong to Enepsigos. She was a fallen that was just pure mean, many believed that she was a male who just appeared as a woman. All of the information that Ryan had received from the figurine and what Maria had found convinced him that Enepsigos was a female.
Before Maria could she needed to take care of Ryan’s wounds she cleaned them up and placed bandages over each gash and slice.
Dawn broke and it found Ryan and Maria already on the road to Balad. Maria was apologetic that she could not find any information about Mehen. Ryan told her not to worry about it he would contact Gabriel when it was going to be really needed. They completed the trip to Balad and headed for the outskirts of Balad where the ancient city of Assur was located.
The Seven Princess and The Gates of Hell Page 11