The Judas Line

by Mark Everett Stone

  Both plows were almost to the Hard Way when I heard, “Your purse, Ace.”

  Was Mike suicidal? Wasn’t killing yourself frowned upon by Catholics?

  “Dale to the left, Jim to the right,” I shouted into the CB as we made the turn into the bar’s parking lot. Motorcycles were parked in a big U around the building. It wasn’t hard to spot Alexander’s Pan Head; it was the only Harley that had a wide clearing around it on the right side of the building. “Jim, you and Dale going to be okay?”

  Jim’s wide face smiled savagely as the blade of the plow hammered into the row of motorcycles, twisting and tearing bright chrome and polished leather. “Don’t you worry about me, son,” he shouted above the din. “We got this! Oh yeah, we got this!”

  Metal grated and ground underneath the plow’s tires and I could imagine sparks flying. Bits of chrome and steel were flung sideways into the building, rattling the whole structure. My smile matched Jim’s mean for mean and the ride along motorcycle corpses was quickly over, the plow peeling off behind the building. I saw Dale maneuver his truck on the gritty flatland just outside the lot coming the other way, raising a cloud of gray dust.

  Without a word, I opened the door and leapt out, taking the duffel with me (no way I could leave the Silver out of my sight now, not while on the run), tucking and rolling then bounding to my feet, making tracks as the plows made their turns toward the exit. The back door stood wide open, a cinderblock standing in for a doorstop. That made my life a little easier.

  Inside, two precious seconds were wasted determining left or right. Left. Splintered black door. Shouts, screams from behind and I cursed myself because I’d promised Mike I wouldn’t use guns; the Kimber and Beretta lay nestled at the bottom of the duffel with my underwear.

  Through the door, a fat guy behind the bar, shotgun in his hands, aimed at my friend’s back. No way in hell. My kick took him under his raised arm above his kidney and the shotgun dropped from his spasming hands. My fist hit the side of his lardy neck, then his jaw and he was down. The urge to finish him off burned like acid through my veins, but that’s not what I did anymore, not what I was about.

  Breathing hard, I said, “Hey, Mike, see if you can get Alexander inside. Alone if possible.”

  Mike grinned at me and went outside to poke the bear. “Hey, Alexander, we haven’t finished talking about your sissy little purse yet!”

  My feet hit the ground at the same time Alexander hit the door so hard it shattered and began to have a little hoedown with Mike. I reckoned he could take care of himself, so I went after the few who had followed their master inside.

  Time to play.

  It’s funny how your muscles remember old patterns, old moves. I fell into the same routines of Krav Maga and Aikido that I’d learned all those years ago. A wrist trapped in my hands snapped so easily, the sound a crack of pain. Spinning, I threw an elbow into a screaming man’s face that smeared his nose across his face in a spray of blood.

  A low kick broke an ankle while I turned a punch coming at my face into a hip throw that flung the man headfirst into one of the pool tables. He fell and lay very still.

  Three down. Stiffened fingers jabbed hard against a throat. Four. A punch landed solidly on my chin, but I rode with it, despite the pain. I’ve taken worse. My response broke the man’s elbow across my knee. Five. Anger slithered through me like a snake of fire, but I didn’t give into the passion; instead I used it, let it fuel me, although desire to use magic nearly robbed me of my senses. No magic, I thought. Save it, keep it handy just in case.

  My hands grabbed a man’s ear and pulled. An ear is held on by skin and cartilage, and I peeled it off like a decal, tossing it aside. Six.

  The last man stared into my eyes and ran. He must have been the brains of the outfit.

  A crash came from behind, startling me, and I spun in time to see Mike fall out of sight before a flash of steel focused my attention on a knife slashing toward my throat. I leaned away and the tip missed my neck by a fraction of an inch.

  “Baphemaloch,” I growled at the demon wearing Alexander’s face. “So you’ve come into your own.”

  “A Baphemaloch no more,” he hissed, lips curling unnaturally. “With sentience comes a new name. I am Cazzizz.”

  Alexander was gone, or at least, the thing that made him Alexander, eaten by a spiritual parasite that had become a demon. Leslie’s son was gone and that hell-thing was going to pay.

  “Well, Cazzizz, let’s have some fun.” With that, I struck.

  And missed. Fast, the demon was faster than anyone I’d ever met, even Burke, and he was the quickest form of death I’d ever met.

  Horny black knuckles hammered into my cheek, knocking me sideways. A boot to thigh sent a bolt of pain up my hip and knocked me to the floor. Cazzizz’s toe took me in the ribs, breaking several, spraying my torso with needles of pain and driving the breath from my lungs.

  While I choked and gasped, Cazzizz walked slowly around my thrashing body, savoring his victory as if it were heady wine. “You have no protection against demons, Olivier.” He smiled even wider, the edges of his lips touching his ears like an obscene clown’s. “Oh, yes. I know who you are. Hell is full of those looking for you; I can hear them clamoring their envy and rage. Your death will bring me great power, such great rewards.” He raised a leg, boot heel hovering over my head. I closed my eyes. It had been a good run, longer than I thought.

  The blow never came.

  “Demon, you looking for this?”

  Mike! My eyes snapped open.

  My friend stood behind the bar, bleeding from his mouth and ear. In one hand he held a purple bag with gold thread, the kind expensive scotch comes in and I knew what lay inside.

  “Mike,” I choked with what breath my lungs had left.

  Too late, the demon attacked

  With a bloody smile, Mike held up his cross-a small, silvery thing that didn’t look like much, but was empowered with the unshakable faith of one simple man. That alone imbued it with the strength of the Lord.

  The greater demon in New Mexico had been a real bad ass. It had taken a rite of exorcism to banish it. Cazzizz was a newborn, a demon newly formed from the soul of an evil man.

  It took only one command.

  “Begone.”

  Like a pressure wave caught on high-speed camera, the sound, the force of the command rolled over and through me in a swirling, argent flow, but I felt no pain, just a sense of warm comfort.

  The demon, however, didn’t get off so lucky. Howling, it was caught in mid-leap like an insect in silvery amber, frozen for one millisecond before simply vanishing with a faint pop and a hint of whitish smoke, leaving the whole bar trapped in a moment of perfect peace.

  Oh, God, that felt good.

  And then pain. Lots of it, buckets and barrelfuls, almost more than I could stand, coming from near every part of my body. Hurriedly, I let off with a Healing that took just enough edge off the agony for me to push out another one. I sneezed with the scent of cinnamon clogging my nose.

  “Oh, I don’t want to do that again,” I moaned, finally levering myself upright. Staggering over to where Mike lay half on the bar, I clapped a hand on his back and smacked him with Healing. Then another, because he looked white as a sheet.

  “Thanks, Morgan,” he sighed in relief, stretching. After a long bone-popping moment, he held up the purple bag and teased apart the puckered-shut opening. Long fingers dipped inside and pulled out the Holy Grail.

  Sure didn’t look like much-a small green, ceramic bowl with a beige rim and a small crack, more of nick really, on the rim. It fit snugly in the palm of Mike’s hand.

  “This is the Grail?” he said skeptically, turning it this way and that. “Looks like a high school art project you’d make for your mother, not the cup of Christ.” Still, despite his hesitation, I noticed he cradled it very, very carefully.

  I smirked. “Nine out of ten people used pottery for their wine cups. It was the norm.”
/>   He stashed the Grail back into the purple bag. As the cup disappeared, there came a faint ringing sound from his clothes. Mike patted his pockets and eventually fished out the cell.

  I grabbed the phone before he could answer and threw it through the broken door, sending it clattering and shattering on the cold asphalt outside.

  “Why’d you do that?” he exclaimed.

  The look I gave him could’ve fried eggs. “You know anyone who has the number of a phone I bought yesterday?” How the hell did the Voice find us? The newborn demon?

  Mike had the grace to blush. “But why didn’t he call you?”

  Reaching into the pocket of my coat, I pulled forth several shards of broken plastic. “This is why. Must have broken when the demon kicked me.” Not bothering to linger, I vaulted the bar and grabbed the duffel I’d set there before my encounter with the demon Alexander. Wetness filled my palms.

  “Oh, no,” I muttered, ripping open the bag, fear rushing through my body like a tidal wave. There, in the middle of all my clothes, was the cardboard cylinder that held the Silver, crushed and shapeless. “This isn’t good, man.”

  Black fluid coated the bundles of hundred dollar bills, unholy water spilled from the fish bowl. I could smell an acidic tang as the foul liquid ate through the money like an evil acid.

  “Morgan, I’m so sorry, I must have landed on it when Alexander tossed me at the bar.” Mike rubbed his lower back at the memory.

  “No problem, man, but this, this is how he found us.” I tore into the crushed cylinder, careful not to touch the black fluid, and extracted the small black bag, dangling it in my fingers by the leather straps. “No holy water to mask its signature.”

  “And that means what?”

  “Means we run, and right now!”

  Out the back and into the delivery truck. For the first time in I don’t know how long, panic had a good hold of me with icy claws and wasn’t letting go. Truck and axle nearly parted ways as I took a curb too hard and too fast. A trickle of blood ran down my throat from where I bit my lip, but the only thing I could think of was Get to Bend.

  “What’s going on, Morgan?” Mike yelled while the truck bounced up and down. He was definitely a little green around the gills.

  “It’s thirty miles to the church in Bend,” I hollered back. “That’s where we can destroy the Silver.” The truck smoothed out some and the noise level decreased. “Right now the Patron can track us because the Silver is out and we can’t afford to stay still for any length of time or we could be hip-deep in fiends. We have to get to holy ground ASAP.”

  I could see Mike trying not to be skeptical, but he just shrugged and said, “What’s going on with Jim and Dale? How are they going to get rid of those bikers?”

  “You realize the bikers aren’t a threat now, right? It’s what the Patron will send after us that’s the threat.”

  “What aren’t you telling me, Morgan,” he said in a voice filled with gravel.

  I knew that tone, was dreading the question and didn’t want to answer it. “Jim and Dale are at the Sun Spot Drive-In.”

  “And what are they doing there?” he urged.

  “Ambushing the remaining bikers.”

  “What?!”

  “After you went to bed last night, Jim and Dale called some family and friends and arranged a welcome for the remaining bikers at the drive-in. Seems like there were a lot of people willing to take a swing at the gang. The list of people included the deputy sheriff, who said he wanted ‘run those bastards out of town on a rail.’ ”

  “What are they planning?”

  “What do you think? A picnic? Some fish and chips and a screening of the new Batman movie?” I shook my head. “No, the gang’s pissed off a lot of locals from Terrebonne to Bend, and most of them want to join in on the action. I think at last count there were a hundred fifty people signed up and they are going to beat those bikers black and blue and trash their bikes.”

  Silence. And more silence.

  I risked a glance at Mike. He was stroking his ridiculous handlebar moustache. “Normally I’m opposed to violence, but the gang has done a lot of harm and if the sheriff won’t help, then I suppose the people must take matters into their own hands.” I was so shocked I nearly hit an old Hyundai chugging down the highway toward us. “But,” he continued. “I hope they don’t kill anyone.”

  Shaking my head, I said, “No, the plan is to turn them from psychopathic bikers to beaten and bruised psychopathic pedestrians, and then run them out of town.”

  He nodded reluctantly. “I just wish you would’ve informed me of your plans.”

  “Sorry, man, I didn’t want to strain your sense of law and order.”

  “Morgan, one thing you should know: the Church has been struggling with secular laws for as long as it has existed. I see no problem with using violence against evil when all other recourses have been exhausted.” He spoke as if we were chitchatting in a mall rather than in a truck zooming down the highway at seventy. I shook my head in wonder at Mike’s ability to surprise me even after fifteen years.

  Smiling, I snagged the CB. “Dispatch, this is 183.”

  “One-eight-three, go,” came Bernie’s staticky voice over the radio.

  “Dispatch, be advised that we are en route to the Chamber of Commerce.” That was my way of telling Bernie he could pick the truck up there. It was merely a hop, skip and jump from there to the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.

  Squawk! “Be advised, Olivier,” Bernie said in a voice as cold as the grave. “You’re never going to make it.”

  My insides nearly became my outsides as terror spiked through me. That wasn’t Bernie. Beside me, Mike crossed himself.

  We’d been found.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Mike

  Can’t say I was too terribly surprised that Morgan kept the ambush from me. Most people think priests are passive, pacifist bead rubbers. Most of the time we are, but in my case I had been a warrior, a man used to blood and death, armpit deep in both.

  Moreover, most Americans don’t realize that the Church has a militant order, The Military Corps of the Order of Malta, part of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (better known as the SMOM or Knights of Malta). The Military Corps of the Order has the official title of Auxiliary Military Corps of the Italian Army.

  The Catholic Church may be a peace-loving organization dedicated to the teachings of Christ, but it’s not stupid. Faith is one thing, but I believe God does help those who help themselves.

  When I heard the Voice emerge from the CB, its tone mocking and contemptuous, I decided it was time to fight fire with fire.

  In the space between our seats rested our duffels, filled with none too fresh clothes and other small essentials. My hand reached for the floor where Morgan threw his weapons and emerged with a.45 ACP. A Kimber, nice, but I prefer the H amp;K. Along with the Kimber I found a Beretta (which I gave to Morgan) and two extra clips for both. In my bag was the manila envelope, which I stuffed in the inside pocket of my Danzinger’s jacket.

  “What do you mean?” Morgan asked the Voice. “We’ve already won.”

  “Boy, you must think I’m five kinds of stupid to fall for the ‘Oh, I’ve lost the Silver’ routine. Julian had an SS Team deployed in the area ever since the Baphemoloch became aware enough to recognize that the host he was eating carried the Grail, My associate found you near Las Cruces. With the host’s memories, it was child’s play to deduce what you were doing in the southwest, Olivier. This is the last time you will receive this offer; shoot the Holy Roller in the head, give up and rejoin the Family.”

  “Understood, sir,” Morgan said through clenched teeth. Rolling down the window, he wrenched the CB off its moorings with one hand and threw it out of the truck. “Damn, his mouth runs like a fucking river. Pardon the profanity.”

  “Pardoned.” I said, then, “SS Team?”

  “Special Services Team. An elite squad, m
uch like the Israeli commandos, but much, much worse. Basically Dagger Men Special Forces.”

  Stomach hitting the floor, I stared out the window for a couple of seconds. “You think he’s lying? It’s what he does, you know.”

  His look was bleak, barren of hope. “I don’t think so, Mike. The Patron is a Power and Intelligence like you’ve never encountered. Amp up Stephen Hawking’s brain by a thousand and you might come close. He’s touchy, mean, controlling and unimaginably evil, but he’s no dope. Yeah, I think we’re in big trouble, because he knows we’re going to a church to destroy the Silver.” He shuddered. “Down on the floor should be a small black shaving bag. Get it.”

  Black shaving bag. Right … eight by four inches of simulated leather zippered shut. “Okay, now what?”

  “Inside there are six metal vials and a small glass jar. Open the jar and smear some of the contents on your forehead and chest. It’ll protect you; then give me one of the vials.”

  Outside the window, we passed Redmond, barreling south toward Bend and a team of commandos waiting to kill us. In the bag I found the vials, the small jar and what looked to be several silver cigarette cases. The small jar contained a pinkish-white paste that smelled like charbroiled ugly. Grimacing, I applied the paste and tried not to puke; it smelled so bad. After wiping my hands I handed Morgan one of the six silvery vials, the contents of which he gulped in one swallow.

  At my inquiring look he said, “Pennyroyal, Master Wart and Blessed Thistle herb. For that little extra kick, you know.” He grinned like a skull grins, with horrifying knowledge and lost hope. Then the smile faded, replaced by an angry scowl.

  “Shit!” he swore suddenly. “Why the hell am I driving to Bend when there’s a Catholic church in Redmond?” He said a word I won’t repeat. “I’m such a damn idiot!”

  Noon traffic on the highway was fairly light, but there were still enough cars to cause concern as he yanked the steering wheel hard to the left and spun the truck, tires squealing and smoking, into a one-eighty. I kissed the side window in time to see an old, red Saab hatchback miss us by a hair and rumble off the road into the sandy, scrub-filled flatland. In the side-view mirror, as we sped back north, I saw the driver of the Saab raise a finger in a gesture as old as man.