by David Kernot
"You'll know. Don't screw this up, or we will deny any knowledge."
The general hung up the phone, and Andrew replayed the conversation in his head.
What had he missed? There was something in the sub-tone of the General's message. He'd speak to Reed and negotiate their boundaries up front with him.
He ran his fingers through his hair and pondered what to do, and his phone buzzed with a message. He took it out and read the brief text.
Appraised by General Cobb. Arrive McDonald-Cartier 1445 hours today. D.R.
Wow. Cobb had wasted no time. Andrew replied: See you then.
He texted Giselle and let her know he'd be at work late because an incident had come up.
Giselle would know from the word 'incident' that there was trouble, and it would rile her up even more. She wanted him out from this line of work. Out of the Task Force. She was already itchy to return home to the south of England. Last night she had been clear that if he didn't retire from the military soon, she would go without him. He sighed. The day wasn't starting out well. He made a call and organized to sign out the DU weapon. He shuddered when he thought about it. He hated DU. Depleted uranium was far more dangerous than the monsters he'd faced. At least the strange creatures he fought died and left no trace, but uranium was another thing altogether.
◆◆◆
Andrew sat in the McDonald-Cartier airport terminal and watched the snow tumble from a dull grey sky. Outside the temperature hit five below, and snow plows worked hard to keep the runway open.
He watched tourists arrive for the Ontario festival, Winterlude. Most of them would have heard the news reports on the damage out on the Canal. They would crowd it downtown while everybody explored such an impossible occurrence.
He didn't understand how that granite monument came alive. He had seen nothing like it, and it still troubled him that Cobb had known, and yet the general had failed—
"Andrew? Colonel Andrew Stone?"
Andrew looked up from the chair and frowned at the unfamiliar woman's voice.
A tall, youthful woman, dressed in a black power suit with pants that showed black patent shoes, held out her hand and smiled. "Reed. Denna Reed," she said. "I recognized you from the agency photo."
"You're Reed?" He stood, took hold of the slender woman's hand and shook it. It felt cold, but her grip was firm. She oozed confidence. Her eyes were like an eagle's, direct and alert. On her neck, just below her jet-black cropped hair, was a pentagram tattoo. If he had to guess, he'd have said there was a lot more to Denna Reed than met the eye. He sensed danger within her smart corporate attire.
"I've never seen you at the warehouse." He lowered his voice and referred to the NSA's secretive facility in Georgia. "Have you hunted ESBs for long?"
"ESBs?" She frowned, but her eyes sparkled, and she disarmed him with her smile. "Colonel Stone, I don't know what you just said, but General Cobb asked me here because he believes you have a UOS."
Andrew frowned. "UOS?"
She smiled. "An Unusual Occult Sighting."
He grinned, unsure if she had understood what he meant by Extra Sentient Beings. But he decided that he'd get on just fine with Denna Reed. "What else did the general say?"
"That I needed to get my ass up here, pronto." She smiled again.
Andrew laughed. "Sounds like General Cobb. And yes, an unusual occult sighting explains it. Did he mention the sign of Koth?"
Denna's mouth tightened. Andrew could almost see a complex interplay of emotions unfold within her. "No, I'm unfamiliar with the term," she said.
Andrew frowned, unsure when to put the pleasantries aside and get down to business. Did she know of the cult? He couldn't be sure, but he'd struck a raw nerve somehow. He hoped by putting her in charge, Cobb had a reason.
"Had any experiences with witchcraft, Colonel?"
He laughed. "Call me Andrew." He contemplated telling her that a witch had once traveled through time to possess a woman and stab him with a divining rod. He rubbed the raised scar on his knee and hoped that whatever happened this time, it would be a walk in the park. "No, witchcraft isn't my thing," he said. "I only know what I read."
Denna relaxed as if she had been expecting a power struggle, but she threw him another disarming, yet stunning smile. "Good to know, Colonel," she said.
"What now?" he asked and left her to make the next decision. "Would you like to look at the damaged monument from this morning?"
"No, I need to get my coat and luggage, and I'd like you to take me to the nature museum."
He frowned. "The Museum of Nature? That's the one by Metcalfe Street, right?"
Her mouth tightened.
Andrew nodded. "Ok," he said. "The museum it is then."
◆◆◆
Andrew pulled into the Museum's car park. He turned off the car and followed Denna out toward the road and not to the museum as he had expected.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"There's a family of woollen mammoths by the rear car park. There is also a pair of dinosaurs across the road. I need to get to the mother and daughter."
"Why?"
"They're bronze," she said in a way she expected him to understand. He didn't, but the reference to bronze made him think about Cobb's earlier comment. Damn him. Damn them both. There was a lot more going on than he was privy to.
They reached the two small dinosaurs, and Denna shook her head.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I thought they'd be bigger. More of a threat. But just to make sure…" She pulled a plastic container from her enormous shoulder bag and chanted to herself.
Andrew caught a word here and there: ashes, dust, earth, mother, fire, air and water… none of it made sense.
She circled the base of the statue and sprinkled white powder in a circle around the bronze figures.
Andrew watched in silence, more than a little sceptical. He was more used to being at the end of a weapon that could destroy your opponent. Standing, talking didn't seem right.
"Done," she said moments later. "Now the other one. Ready?"
He shrugged. It seemed simple enough.
"The family of mammoths…" She showed the direction with her head. "They're bronze too, right?"
"I suppose so," he said. They strode off together, careful of the ice, and clambered over the small snow piles to the mammoths. "What were you doing back there?"
"Oh, that." She smiled. "I was bonding them to Mother Earth. Making sure that they stay where they are."
After what had happened earlier that day, it made sense. That part he sort of understood. "Why come here?" he asked. It made little sense to be at this location when there had to be other statues around town.
"They are families." She smiled again. "Come on, the next ones aren't far away. Then I'll buy you a coffee."
Andrew laughed. He couldn't argue with that. Perhaps he'd be home to a meal with Giselle soon. He might invite Denna to join them. He followed her around the block to the mammoths, careful not to slip on the ice. The wind picked up and blurred his eyesight. He stared at the bronze family of three mammoths by the museum park, and his fingers stiffened from the cold. He pulled up his collar and thrust his hands deep into his pockets.
Once again, Denna stood upright and made a symbolic gesture with her hands: a cross within a circle. "Spirit of Earth, give me your strength and bond stone and bronze, water and ice, and the Earth to what it should be." She sprinkled the white powder around the base of the statues in a circle. The white line was thin near the join, and he wanted to ask if it mattered, but it was too cold. She knew what she was doing. She stepped back, made the symbolic gestures, and closed her eyes and mouthed some words.
He stared at her and noticed that one of her eyelids had a bright red scar on it. But he had to agree with his first observation. She was attractive and not as bossy as he'd first imagined. She opened her eyes and smiled. "Coffee?"
He nodded. "Sure. What is that stuff?" Andrew pointed to the white powder.
> "Ash and saltpeter," she said. "It binds everything to Mother Earth. It keeps whatever spells anyone might use away."
"Really?" He said. "But why come here?"
"They're bronze animals that could threaten if they turned to life," she said.
He wasn't certain. There had to be another question he should be asking.
"It's freezing." She smiled. "Coffee?"
"There shop's just inside the museum," he said.
Halfway to the museum, a raven in a nearby tree cried out. Its anguished cry caused Andrew's heart to skip a beat, but he relaxed and stepped out and faced it. The bird wouldn't be the same one from earlier that morning. But it was, and it hobbled toward him on atrophied legs. It cawed several times, and each time it thrust its head forward.
Andrew's stomach tightened. "We've got trouble," he said.
Denna walked over and stood alongside him.
"I saw this bird this morning," he said. Even though the bird wasn't responsible for the death of the skaters, it made him uncomfortable. "Can you put a spell on it or something?" The raven stared at them out of one blue-black eye. It twisted its head sideways and seemed to dare them both.
"Did you hear that?" Denna pointed. "Look at the mammoths!"
Andrew turned to the smallest of the bronze mammoths. It twisted its head and bellowed.
It ambled toward them. Another of the mammoths came to life. It too stepped from the circle, and then the largest joined the others. All three bellowed in unison.
Andrew stared at the massive tusks. The largest of the woolly mammoths could have flipped a car over without effort.
"Stand back," said Denna. She stepped forward and then crouched down. She pulled a woven cross from her bag and thrust it into the layer of ice. "Begone," she commanded.
The ice cracked where the cross touched the ground. It ran straight at the smallest mammoth. The beast shattered like glass into small frozen fragments of bronze.
The other two, the mother mammoth, and its large sibling turned and faced her. The biggest raised its trunk and bellowed. Together they marched forward. Denna made a symbol in the air with her hand. The sky burned, and she cried out in a language Andrew didn't know or understand. But he felt the power of her words and cringed. He sensed the authority she commanded. Whatever else he thought about her, Denna Reed knew her stuff. The mammoths stopped a hair's breadth from her, subservient as if trapped in her spell. She pulled another cross out of her bag, careless to the danger the two mammoths presented. The cross had an intricate woven design of a pentagon across it. Again, she thrust it into the ground. More obscure words followed. The ice cracked, and a line twisted toward both mammoths. They bellowed in unison. The largest one leaned forward.
An eye formed at the end of its trunk and twisted to look left and tight. The two tusks grew, and an eye formed at the end of them both. Just before each eye, the appendages split and three more attachments formed. Two mouths formed at the end of many, and others had eyes. Sharp razor-like teeth snapped at each end, and the mammoth launched forward.
Andrew recognized the Shoggoth-like forms, and he shoved Denna aside. Like multiple headed snakes, the forms snapped out in unison where Denna had stood. Razor-sharp teeth on the long trunk-like appendages lunged at them. "Come on," he said and grabbed her hand.
They ran toward the museum for shelter. The mammoths followed. They strode toward the building, and Andrew could feel the ground shake underneath them.
People from inside the museum ran out of the building. A man in a gray fedora followed. He fired a gun several times, and several people fell to the ground. Andrew ducked and pulled Denna down, but the mammoths closed in. They ran. Panic took hold of the crowd, and they fled to the car park toward the mammoths. Several more people fell, trampled. The man in the fedora ran off in the canal's direction. Andrew cursed. If he'd had his pistol, he could have returned fire. Somehow he needed to contain the chaos. A woman ran screaming past the mammoth, and it impaled her with its giant tusk; it lifted her up and shook her until severed body parts spewed onto the ground.
"Do something," he said to Denna.
"I… I tried, but my spells aren't working," said Denna.
He stepped closer. "Then try harder."
He left her and ran toward the mammoth, waved his hands at the people.
It wasn't working.
Most people ignored him.
He ran to his car and clambered in. He fumbled with his keys until he forced them into the ignition. Every second counted, and he cursed before starting the car and slamming it into gear. He drove like a madman back to Denna and stopped between her and the mammoths.
He pushed open the passenger door. "Get in."
He had stood on the accelerator before she had closed the door, and the car lurched forward. At the museum, he stopped. "The mother of all spells would be excellent," he said.
Denna stepped from the car. "Spirit of Earth, give me your strength and the power to shape what should be." She held up her hands and spoke an incantation, complex and incomprehensible before she pushed with both hands. Andrew watched the air shimmer and blast the mammoths. They slowed, and the smaller one stopped. It cried out through its many mouths with an eldritch scream and then vanished in a pool of molten bronze.
But it made no difference to the most massive of the mammoths. It careered into the museum and took out the front wall. It marched inside, and bit-by-bit, the museum's roof, and a side wall collapsed. Andrew cringed. He hated to imagine how many people they had trapped inside. The mammoth marched out from the other end of the decimated building.
Andrew drove his car around and aimed it at the creature's back legs. He jumped from the vehicle and slid across the icy car park asphalt. He looked up in time to see it collide with the mammoth. The creature fell. It twisted in a mass of swirling mouth-tusks and devoured his car. Metal groaned, and he cringed.
Denna arrived and sprinkled powder around it in a circle. She knelt and placed a wooden cross in the circle. "That should contain it."
He hobbled over to her. "What are you going to do with it now?"
"I don't know," she said and cringed. "I don't know why my spells aren't working. They should never have been able to get out from the circle."
"Who was that man in the fedora hat?" said Andrew. "You knew he'd be here. How did you know he'd pick these statues?"
"That was Wilbur Whateley's grandson, Warren," she said.
"Wilbur Whateley? Wasn't he tried for witchcraft and murder a lifetime ago? He didn't have any children."
"Not officially. We've been trying to work out how to harness his power."
Andrew's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "So you bred from him? His nephew is the one who's been putting the sign of Koth everywhere?" He stared at her. "How do you know all this?"
"We've had Warren in a testing facility, but he escaped. One agent who helped capture him, someone he trusted, came from Ottawa. He swore he'd get back at him."
Andrew lifted his hands in the air. "Fantastic! And the Bronze statue?"
"Wood, bronze, iron, fire, water, and stone are six signs of the circle. Once I'd heard about the sign of Koth on the granite statue, I figured it was stone. The rest was simple. This was my only chance to capture him."
"Tell me… how were you going to capture him?"
"With a spell."
Andrew laughed. "And this spell, did you figure on the Cthulhu influence?"
"No." Denna seemed shaken. "I didn't expect any of this."
"Wood, bronze, iron, fire, water, and stone," said Andrew. He mentally crossed off stone and bronze. There were no wooden statues in Ottawa, or fire ones, or even water ones. He couldn't for the life of him think where there were any iron statues. He faced Denna. "Did you identify any other threats from his witchcraft?"
"No," she said.
"So we're at a dead end. He's gone."
"He headed off toward the canal," she said.
"I know. But there are hundreds of people night
skating," he said. "We'd never find him on the ice."
She sighed. "You're probably right."
"Ice," he said and chewed his lip, and he realized. "I've got to get over to NDHQ. I need to pick up a device."
"Device?" she frowned. "For what?"
"To catch Whateley. I know where he is, or at least I think I know where he'll be. But I need some backup."
"Where is he?"
"I'll tell you on the way."
"Here, Cobb said you might need these." She reached into her bag and pulled out some bullets.
Andrew looked at the shells; annoyed the woman had taken so long to let him know. "What are they?"
"Normal shells, packed with ash and saltpeter. I have blessed them. It should help if you need to use them."
"And when were you going to tell me?"
"I didn't think I'd have to. I did not understand things would get so complicated. Cobb knew more than I understood."
"Cobb always knows more. But I'll handle this. Keep them until I get my gun. Cobb doesn't know everything." He smiled. Two could play her game, and if he told her what he believed might happen, he'd never know what she'd do. She'd already hidden far too much from him. Curse General Cobb and his veil of secrecy. Curse them both.
◆◆◆
Andrew stood by the entrance to the exhibition. Darkness greeted them, and an icy wind whipped in his face. It made his eyes water. He blinked away the tears and said, "Look at the ice-carving exhibition."
Denna's expression changed when she stared across the park alongside the Rideau Canal and admired the enormous ornate carvings.
He held out his hand. "Bullets." She provided her witchcraft enabled ones and Andrew emptied his Westinghouse Colt 45 rounds into the soft snow and reloaded his weapon. He picked up the good shells from the snow-covered ground and thrust them back into his pocket. He holstered his pistol.
"You've got to hand it to him," she said.
"Who? Whateley?"
She nodded. "How many ice carvings are here?"
"There're hundreds," said Andrew. "This is the biggest exhibition they've ever had. He could be anywhere, and who knows which ones will come alive."