The Road to Lazarus (The First book in the diaries of Lazarus House)

by Patrick T. McAlister

  We all know how that turned out. I’ve monitored his internet chatter as well as cell phone calls. I have no doubt that he is coming after our family. Not just me, as you can see by what he did to Francis. He is using the Pistolaro’s to gain intelligence on us through their connection in various law enforcement agencies."

  His eyes grew cold. “If they want a war, I am ready to take it to them on their terms. He’s made the rules and I have no problem following them. I’m starting with his closest brother. Then I am going after his father, uncles, nephews, and down the line. When I’m finished he will be shitting his pants. I am not fucking around with this asshole this time.

  Gabriel has tried to get me to rethink my tactics, to being more loving and gentle about the way I deal with this. Pops, I am not backing down. They have put a hit out on Dennis and Raven as well, the bounty is 500k each. The price tag on you is a million dollars. They want to play. I’m ready to take the game to them."

  Fred looked at Gabriel, then back at Michael. His blue eyes looking straight into the heart of Michael, he knew there was no way to change this. Seeing the fire within his friend and the way he loved good over evil, how much he truly cared. Taking a deep breath he put his hands on the table, looking at both men he simply said “Green light.”

  Michael flicked his smoke out to the parking lot and stood up. He looked over at Gabriel and asked him to keep watch on Raven. Taking a step, he turned and looked at him again. “Just stop using your little gift to play mind games with her, she is not the enemy and you know it. You know what she needs most. Be that Gabriel!!!” Looking from Gabriel to Fred he said “I’m off radar and will be dark for a bit. I will pop up when I complete each mission. Keep an eye on Theresa and the kids please." With that he jogged across the parking lot, shrugged into his jacket and put on his helmet. Mounting his bike, he started the powerful machine. The roar from the motor almost scared the hell out of the little old lady that had the misfortune of standing beside the car parked next to him when he brought the bitch to life. Nodding his apology to her, he shot a teasing one finger salute at Gabriel, which brought a grin to both of their faces as he maneuvered onto the road and sped away.

  Gabriel turned to Pops, ready to get his lecture for what he had done to Raven. Fred just looked at him and winked, leaving Gabriel to wonder if Pops had lost it. Taking a sip from a fresh beer he asked him “Will Michael be okay?” Fred made a facial gesture that even Gabriel couldn’t read. “You shouldn’t even have to ask that. We both know Michael is one sneaky son of bitch! His heart is made up of half William Wallace and half Geronimo. He’s the one who can walk into a pool of shit and come out smelling like a rose!! Remember? Isn’t that why you and your brother follow him to hell without a second thought?” Gabriel laughed a little, “So I shouldn’t be worried is what you are saying?” Fred replied, “Oh I am worried, but not for him. I’m worried more about what he will do to José’s family. In the end, what he will ultimately do to the man himself when he has taken everything else away. THAT is what I‘m worried about."

  Leaning closer to Gabriel, Fred looked him in the eye as he speaks quietly. “I’m also worried about you and what you have done to Raven. That just isn’t cool, taking her to those extremes.” Gabriel sat up defensively, looking right back at him and said “I’ve done no harm with what I’ve shown her, or the places I’ve taken her in her dreams. Life has hard lessons, we both know that. All I’ve done is start her on the journey to admitting how she’s formed her opinion of God and herself. Even now she begins to slowly work through it. So don’t give me flak about it! I did what would work best to get behind the wall that evil has built around her heart!! To get close enough to show her how precious she actually is. Know this Pops that was just part of my plan. You see, in my own dreams I see the rest of my life spent with her.”

  Fred almost dropped his hot coffee when Gabriel dropped that bomb on him. “Excuse me, my wild child of man sees himself settling down and giving his heart to another? Is that what I just heard?” Gabriel blew out a smoke ring looking at the foothills in the distance. “I am not settling, it will simply be two hearts becoming one, if she will have me, after she finds out all we do behind the scenes in this thing called life.”

  Gabriel finished his beer, standing he patted Fred on the shoulder. Fred stood and gave him a hug. Standing alone now, Fred watched as Gabriel geared up and rode off, wondering where he was going, if he was somehow going to assist Michael in his personal war? As he turned to walk to his car, he looked to Heaven and simply prayed, “Dear Lord, please don’t let any of us screw up. Amen”

  Driving off he didn’t notice the three bikers that pulled out of the medical building just east of the shopping center he had left. He was listening to his buddy Rush ranting about the government as he drove down Kimber drive. As he stopped at the stop sign at Kimber and Wendy Road he noticed the church on the corner, he wondered why Gabriel never mentioned that he knew Raven had been raised in the fundamentalist branch of this very religion? He turned leaving the question alone for now. Rush had sucked him into another one of his rants. He still didn’t notice the bikers that were tailing him.

  Chapter 9

  Raven still sat on her couch reliving the conversation, her hand on her forehead holding her hair back she would weep for brief periods then slam her hand down into the couch. Frustrated and confused, all the while knowing that Gabriel had only told her what she needed to hear, no matter if she actually wanted to hear it or not. She held no anger towards the man that had laid her life in front of her. Every now and then she would recall the sensual acts of the fantasies only to shut them off as she looked deeper into her heart looking for the Raven that hadn’t been known since she was so young. “Damn, this is hard” she said out loud. She would sit and dissect all the pain she had lived through in her life, looking to find a philosophical answer to it all.

  From how she was molested by her family, to how she had given birth to a child at the age of thirteen, the child that had been fathered by her very own FATHER. A shudder went through her suddenly. Man that memory had been buried deep within her since the moment she gave birth to the boy.

  She would never go back to that place to even see how he had grown. She had long left the fold of that flock. Never speaking out about the abuse she endured. She even admitted to herself on the couch that when she was raped in High School it somehow felt better than what she had to do within the walls of her family’s home and that of her extended family. At that moment she realized she has been living a lie. She had lied to herself and if she had ever let anyone get close to her, she would have been lying to them too. But she never let anyone that close.

  What in the hell was she going to do with all this information, all of these feelings that were flooding out of her? Sitting here trying to sort through it all, dissecting and examining it herself just wasn’t getting her anywhere. Where could she turn was the question hanging in the air? Little did she know that out in the parking garage her life was about to change and bring some answers to her quest.

  Chapter 10

  Down in the garage, three men sat with their bikes silent except for the metallic “ticking” of the cooling engines. The metal monsters they sat on all sport a matte black finishes, each one is tricked out for top performance. The men all wearing black with their club vests predominately showing their “1%er” patch on the lower right hand side. On their backs were the colors of the club. With the grotesque skeleton holding two pistols skyward, with a silhouetted naked woman at his feet, one foot resting firmly on her chest.

  As if following some unspoken cue, the three dismount the bikes and walked silently to the elevator. As they stepped inside, their reflections stare back at them from the mirrored interior, as the doors close. Their faces are covered in skull face masks, heads covered with black doo rags, eyes cold as death. None of them spoke a word, as one reached and pressed the number 6. As the elevator began to rise, each took out a Heckler & Koch MP5 sub machine gun.
Unlike the ones made famous in Special Forces, chambered in 9mm, these were newer models holding a 50 round clip with .45 caliber rounds. These weapons existed only for one deadly result. To kill in tight quarters in a manner that would literally tear the victim in half.

  As they reach Ravens floor they tuck their weapons back into their vests. As the doors opened, they stepped out into the hall and turned toward the apartment of their prey.

  Gabriel pulled into the parking garage as the men began walking slowly, silently toward their goal. He immediately spotted the three Harleys and knew they were from the club. This was not a happy moment for him. He parked quickly, reaching to his lower back his hand closing around the grip of his Glock. He took it out and expertly attaches the silencer to the modified barrel and slammed a 100 round clip home. With a practiced touch at the grip he tests the “sure fire” laser site and blinding light assembly finding they worked properly. Hearing the sounds of the cooling motors as he steps off his bike, he knows they hadn’t been parked long. A quick check confirmed the secondary compact weapon still rested securely in its holster at the top of his Danner combat boot. Looking quickly from the elevator to the stairwell he knew he could run faster than the elevator could get him to the sixth floor. Slamming through the stairwell door he raced up the stairs, taking two and three steps at a leap, a primal voice deep in his gut growled “This will not happen!”

  As he raced headlong for the sixth floor he wills Raven to feel the danger that is coming. He prays the connection he had to her heart would let her hear, let her feel the danger that was coming to kill her. He stopped at the sixth floor exit he is thankful for his long hours of training. Barely winded, his heart beating no faster than it would from a normal workout at the gym.

  He knows on the other side of the door were three men with nothing but murder and rape on their minds. As he eased open the door, the hallway exploded with the deafening thunder of automatic weapons opening fire. There was no control to the firing, just reckless burst of bullets. Had they breached Ravens door or were they cowards just shooting through the wall, hoping the wild spray of lead would somehow hit their target?

  He went through the door into the narrow hallway. One of the three assassins sensing the movement began to turn toward him lifting his weapon to take aim. Gabriel fired a double tap hitting the killer in the temple. The impact lifted him off his feet, spun him around and knocked him backwards into the firing line of his partners. The man was cut in half by his own crew, his torso landing at the feet of the third shooter. The two remaining killers turned in unison. Their shock showing in their eyes, seeing Gabriel walk calmly toward them, his weapon an extension of his own hand. They knew who it was instantly. To him it seemed they moved in slow motion as they began to turn.

  Suddenly, the door they had been facing erupted with a deafening blast, lifting the closest gunman off the ground and sending him flying back four feet as the slug from a twelve gauge shot gun ripped into his chest. The lone remaining assassin stood there covered in the blood and gore from his fallen partners he screams “Fuck you!!” as he turns to fire his weapon at Gabriel. As he squeezed the trigger all he hears is the hollow click of an empty chamber

  He was out of rounds. By the time this registers in his brain Gabriel is in his face. As he stares down the barrel of the silenced weapon never seeing the round house punch that slammed into his jaw, sending his head into the bullet riddled wall.

  Gabriel called out to Raven “Hold Fire!” his voice seemed to boom in the silence following the gunfire. He shoved the bloody body through what remained of her apartment door. She stood in front of him with her shotgun still in her hands. He notices it is a Winchester Defender 12 gauge shotgun, and he also notices with a grin, that she is still holding it at the ready. His grin growing into a full blown smile, he tilts his head to her. “Good Evening Madame, would you like to play before the street lights come on?” A minute of silence passes, and then she lets out a hesitant laugh and lowered the weapon to her side. As absurd as his remark was, it had provoked the desired effect. He could see her shoulders visibly relax a little.

  His smile for her changes into something much colder as he turns on his heel and walks back to the lone survivor. Kneeling down, he can hear the faint wheezing from the man as he reaches over and removes the face mask. As the mask was torn off the survivor spit blood in Gabriel’s face..

  Gabriel smoothly shifts his body weight, putting a knee in the assailants’ chest, pinning him to the floor. Staring into his eyes Gabriel reached out and grabbed his finger and swiftly tears it backwards ripping the tendons and ligaments from the bone. The assassin losses control of his bladder as the pain runs across his body. Again Gabriel repeats the move, rapidly moving from one finger to the next, the snapping of bone sounding like black cat firecrackers going off. The biker is screaming as he sees the smile grow larger on Gabriel’s face. With a twist, Gabriel grabs his arm with both hands and snaps it at the elbow, sending fragments of bone piercing through the survivors skin. As he looks into Gabriel’s green eyes the icy realization settles deep in his gut, he knows the man isn’t done with him yet.

  Raven stands frozen in the room. She can’t process what she is seeing. In one swift movement, Gabriel moved slightly to the side with one knee still on the victims chest anchoring him to the floor he reached down and back as he shoves two fingers into his nose and slammed his palm into the forehead completely ripping his nose from his face. The killers’ mouth stretches wide in an ear splitting scream of agony as hot blood sprays across Gabriel’s hands and arms. His right hand moves forward and grips his lower jaw mid scream, his left hand pins his head to the floor. With his right hand almost closing into a fist he jerked and twisted the jaw in one movement. The snapping sound of the jaw hinges separating is almost as loud as the shot of a .22 rifle.

  Through the haze of pain the biker wished for death. His dead partners had gotten off easy. He felt like his head was on fire his jaw dangled loosely held to his face only by the tendons and skin that hadn’t been ripped apart. Blood poured from the hole where his nose used to be. With his eyes bulging from their sockets, a bizarre half moan half strangled cry coming from the ruins of his face. Gabriel showed one act of mercy, as he ripped his throat out with his bare hand killing him instantly.

  Raven had never seen such swift, calculated assault as she had just witnessed. It was mind blowing how easily Gabriel, the man she had known as nothing but gentle, had just become so brutally savage. In the span of less than two minutes he had saved her life and sent a very clear message to the Pistolaro gang.

  Wearing an expression like nothing out of the ordinary had just happened; Gabriel stood and moved to her side. Wiping as much of the blood from his hands as could on legs of his jeans he began to check her over to see if she had any wounds. She began to tremble as shock set in. He gently put his arms around her, taking the shot- gun from her. He held her, pressing her face against his chest. As she melted into his strong arms the tremors began to subside.

  The moment was shattered by the sound of sirens coming from all directions. Gabriel stepped back and looked into her eyes calmly he starts to instruct her on what to say when the police question her. He had her get her badge out knowing the cops would be coming in full force.

  Soon he could hear the elevator and stairwell open with officers yelling back and forth. As he looked to the gaping hole where the door used to be he heard someone puking in the hallway.

  Chapter 11

  It was expected, most had never experienced anything like the gore that coated the hallway and the acrid smell of gun powder and blood in such a confined space. This is a smell that he actually liked, second only the smell of racing fuel and burnt rubber. He had loved that smell since he was little and would go with his Dad and brothers to local dirt tracks watching sprint cars and midget cars race.

  Snapping his mind back in the moment, he took a passive stance as the group of deputies came into the apartment. When they see the body o
f the last shooter they all gagged and briefly turned their heads, all but one. “Gabriel, my friend, what do we have here?” came the soft voice of a female deputy.

  Gabriel remained silent as Raven began recounting the events, beginning with how she was ambushed by the dead men up through when she fired the shotgun blast through the closed apartment door. At that point she relinquished the weapon to the female deputy.

  The deputy then introduced herself as Meagan Goodman. Looking directly at Gabriel she comments "well that explains the guy in the hall with huge hole in the chest, what happened to the guy that’s cut in half, and umm, this guy here?” Raven started to reply but Gabriel raised his hand to silence her. He smiled at the deputy as he spoke. “Oh those two, he said pointing at the top half of the body out in the hall, “He pointed that MP5 at me as I came out of the stairwell. I double tapped him with my side arm. He fell into the firing line of his buddies, who basically shot him in half. “This guy here” he said, pointing at the mangled corpse inside the apartment, “spit his blood on my face.” From there I am not really quite sure what happened. Looks like he had a pretty bad fall over that couch though wouldn’t you say Deputy?” She turned to the other deputies standing around the apartment, with a nod of her head they all left the apartment to make room for the crime lab and the detectives that would be arriving any minute. She finished the interview with Gabriel and Raven herself. Gabriel noticed the others filing from the room, all of them left holding their hands to their noses or covering their mouths. It looked like they had never seen death like this, or smelled it as deputies in sleepy Ventura County.