“Then how?”
“Stealth.”
“What?”
“We’ll sneak along the bank, blend into the crowd, and make our move.”
“I’m not taking off my clothes.”
“Thank God!”
Patience was never Jackson’s strong suit, but he grudgingly agreed. What other choice did they have? He glanced down at the AK-47 in his hands. If Dex’s stealth strategy didn’t work, he was all for mowing down the resistance between them and Teddi. He would not allow her to die!
They stayed to the shadows beyond the reach of the temple’s glow. The closer they got to the temple, the more Jackson gawked at the ghastly demon statue. He’d practically ignored the figure during their first trip because he’d been too engrossed in locating the catalyst for the temple light. But now that the demon was brightly illuminated, he recognized evil in its lifeless eyes. Felt the evil invade his pores.
It appeared to be a water creature with substantial gills and a spiky, fin-like appendage that jutted from its burly neck and thickened as it traveled down its backbone to a stunted tail twenty feet below. Onyx scales covered the broad, crested head. Its fierce face had two pairs of triangular eyes that Jackson guessed would be orange if the demon was actually alive. A fearsome bottom jaw protruded far beyond the upper, and four thickly curved and keen fangs thrust up and over smaller, spiky teeth inside the top of its cavernous mouth.
Two muscular arms arched from both sides of its armored torso, each with six webbed digits, tipped with lethal bony spikes. The massive body rested on ponderous tyrannosaurus-like legs, and the enormous clawed toes were webbed, too. Jackson hoped to hell that Simmons wasn’t planning to bring that thing to life.
Charlie strode majestically onto the altar, and if their circumstances weren’t so dire, Jackson would’ve laughed. What a clown! Did he expect anyone to take him seriously?
The ceremonial setting had all the makings of a bad B movie. Jackson momentarily abandoned his crouch for a better view of the proceedings, but Dex instantly pulled him down. Jackson understood. Stay low. Follow the plan.
They advanced until they reached a rocky outcropping near the chanters. As they watched the ritual, they noticed that the genuflecting multitude never rested.
Dex moved his mouth close to Jackson’s ear again. “How can these people keep up that hollerin’ and bendin’ like that?”
They reversed positions. “Most black arts ceremonies need this kind of emotional dynamism to work. Charlie’s using these people to supply the spiritual and physical energy needed to conjure a demon.”
“Hogwash! I don’t believe in demons. I’m a Christian, for godsake!”
Jackson shrugged.
“I think that the temple has ‘em all in its spell like it had me before. If we spend too much time here, we’ll fall under its spell, too,” Dex warned.
Jackson wasn’t in the mood for a debate. “Well, General, what’s next?”
“Time to push through these rowdies and free Teddi.”
“Then?”
“Then start shootin’ and runnin’, pardner!”
Dex stood and waded into the crowd. Jackson followed, dodging flying elbows and shoulders and trying to ignore the zealous nude women.
A green mist suddenly appeared along the domed ceiling and gathered into a turbulent cloud. Lightning forked and thunder rumbled, sending chunks of rock splashing into the lake.
Dex and Jackson broke free of the crowd and rested at the periphery of the raucous ceremony. Teddi ignored the crazies and concentrated on loosening her binds, but they held firm. She didn’t see her friends leap onto the steps and quickly cover the short distance to the pole. Before they could untie Teddi, a verdant lightning bolt struck the step above them, thrusting them backward into the black water. Their weapons clattered on the glowing stone near Teddi’s feet.
Several male chanters waded down the underwater steps and fished out the intruders. Their ears rang from the tremendous nearby explosion, but they didn’t need to hear what Simmons was saying. They could guess.
But they were wrong. Instead of Charlie shackling them to the altar urns, he ordered his energetic followers to heave them back into the water. Four stood guard at the water’s edge so Jackson and Dex couldn’t interrupt the proceedings again.
Jackson’s mind whirred, desperately seeking a strategy to overpower Charlie’s guards, but he rejected each one. He closed his eyes and funneled his mental powers toward Charlie to initiate a mind meld, but the demon cult leader’s powers were superior, and he easily rebuffed Jackson’s frenetic attempt.
Dex poked Jackson’s shoulder. “Let’s move out a little further into the lake. I have a bad feeling about this shindig.”
Jackson resisted, not wanting to abandon Teddi, but Dex was right again. Without their guns, overpowering the guards and their reinforcements was impossible. Reluctantly, they stroked away from the temple and helplessly watched the ritual unfold, regretting that there was nothing they could do to save their precious Teddi.
Dex’s exhausted muscles lost what little residual tone they’d stored since yesterday’s unbelievable bear incident, and he floundered in the salt water. Jackson observed his friend’s distress and tilted him onto his back.
“You float, and I’ll push,” he ordered.
“Let’s make for the far side of the stairs,” Dex proposed. “The guards aren’t watching us anymore.”
Jackson checked the posted sentinels. Sure enough, they’d turned their backs to the lake to witness the events unfolding on the altar. He gently guided Dex toward the left side of the stairs, while he maintained vigilance on the evil spectacle.
The sacrificial blood magically seeped through the urns and climbed the demon statue’s legs! Verdant lightning rained down upon the figure from the swirling cloud, electrifying each blood-clotted section and casting a green aura over the stone surface. The spirited chants grew more feverish as the blood ascended to the base of the demon’s neck.
Jackson and Dex had closed to within ten feet of their objective when another wicked pitchfork struck the rocky edge, splintering the bank into flying shards. Jackson dunked Dex a split-second before the deadly fragments shredded him, but he didn’t submerge fast enough to save himself.
A few of the jagged projectiles ricocheted off the back of Jackson’s head; dizzying explosions rocked his consciousness! Blood streamed into the water. The cool water prevented him from passing out, but he would’ve preferred that to the trumpeting pain inside his head.
Dex summoned his remaining strength and pulled his companion up to the surface. Jackson sputtered and coughed out a mouthful of the briny water, and slowly shed his wooziness.
Jackson turned toward the altar. The blood had climbed halfway up the demon’s lifeless skull! Suddenly, Jackson intercepted a stray thought from Charlie, and he understood Teddi’s role in the ceremony. He cringed. When the demon was summoned from Hell, Teddi would become its first victim! It somehow needed Teddi to survive.
Jackson stiffened. Despite the deafening noise, he detected faint popping sounds. Gunfire! The followers in the back rows jerked and toppled to the grotto floor. The chanting diminished, but there was still enough ceremonial energy to boost the blood the final three feet to the crest of the demon’s head.
The demon stepped from its statue confines like a wraith, leaving the stone sarcophagus intact. Simmons spun away from his reanimated creature, plucked a sparkling staff from a table abutting the monstrous webbed feet, and descended the golden steps backward toward Teddi. His eyes never left his demonic creation.
Dex sensed movement below them, and his heart wildly struck his ribs. He envisioned the mosasaur devouring the divers yesterday like so many Raisinettes. Death in the form of an aquatic Grim Reaper rose below them like a runaway freight train!
Dex squeezed his eyes closed and half-expected to see his life flash before his eyes, but the bulb of his mental projector must’ve been burned out, because all he s
aw was terrifying blackness. Just him and his premonition of death! Cozy.
He peeked out at Jackson, dispelling the blackness. He, too, heard the rapid report of automatic weapons and momentarily forgot the rising doom beneath him. The incessant bending and chanting abruptly ceased, and the naked chanters closest to the tunnel entrance were now lifeless lumps. The terrified followers on the far side of the steps ran helter-skelter from the intruders, severing the temple’s mesmerizing spell.
Dex and Jackson glanced beyond the corpses and watched the sprinting shadows and flashing gun barrels advance on the temple. It appeared that Teddi was saved!
Ragged green lightning bolts struck in front of the rescue party, showering them with blasted bits of rock. The gun flashes ceased, and several shadows tumbled into the lake. The survivors retreated toward the tunnel.
As Dex and Jackson helplessly treaded water and witnessed their rescuers’ flight, their earlier elation sank to despair.
Teddi was a goner again.
And they were sharing the lake with a murderous mosasaur!
Chapter 84
A malevolent wail shook the grotto to its foundation. Dex and Jackson jerked their heads around toward the altar. The demon’s four eyes blazed an enraged hell-fire orange, as it took a single step forward, crushing half of the hooded men and monks. The others ran down the stairs and jumped off the sides into the lake. Simmons chanted frantically, seemingly directing the monster to come toward Teddi and himself. It cast a vicious glance at the retreating intruders near the tunnel entrance, and then riveted its terrible gaze on the diminutive Charlie Swinson-Simmons.
Jackson viewed the scene in disbelief. Would a demon of such immense power take orders from a human like Simmons?
Dex disregarded the rising menace below him, and gaped in horror at the unleashed beast. It was unbelievably strong and savage. If that thing escaped the grotto, it wouldn’t be long until the human race would be extinct! Or subservient!
The shrieking followers reached the far side of the lake, and Jackson could now hear Simmons’s words. They were entirely unintelligible, but he did catch the gist of Simmons’s gestures. With his staff in one hand and both arms outstretched, Simmons implored the demon to approach him. The colossal sea monster scanned the grotto for more enemies, and then stepped forward. The top four golden stairs cracked beneath its tremendous weight, and the demon returned to the altar.
Simmons became more insistent. Louder. Angrier.
Jackson glanced up and noticed that the green cloud was gone; then, he looked over at Teddi. Simmons was preoccupied with the stubborn demon — that was his cue.
“Can you make it to shore?” Jackson asked Dex.
“Sure, but not much farther than the corpses.”
“Good enough. I’m going after Teddi.”
Dex grabbed his arm. “Be careful.”
“You, too.”
Jackson swam toward Teddi with powerful strokes, while Dex dogpaddled to safety. Jackson pulled himself onto the bottom step. The demon moved forward again, succumbing to Simmons’s magical powers. There was no time to lose.
Jackson slipped off his soaked shoes and socks and crept up behind Teddi.
The demon glared down at Jackson with its orange triangular eyes, reared its abhorrent head back, and roared. The grotto shook, and more of the ceiling plummeted into the lake. The four webbed hands opened and closed violently, as it descended another step.
Jackson’s resolve was shaken, but his nerve was intact. His feelings for Teddi over-rode any notions of retreat.
He slid his serrated Navy knife from his belt sheath and leaped up behind the post. With two quick slices, Teddi’s arms and legs were free! He yanked her away from the pole just as Simmons turned.
“Kill!” he screamed in English at the demon. “Negalwin, kill!”
The demon pounded down the short distance to his new master with two long strides. Jackson and Teddi didn’t have time to run, and they ducked when two of the demon’s hands swiped at them. The bony spikes barely missed, and it stepped closer. Dust from the cracked stairs billowed around them, and coughing, Teddi fell against the short wall. The demon bent, its drool splashing beside them, and raised its massive foot!
Jackson glimpsed the temple-eclipsing shadow rise above them and realized they couldn’t move fast enough to escape its smashing plunge. He hugged Teddi close to him. His premonition was coming true — the demon was about to kill him!
Dex reached the bank and collapsed in a soggy heap. He looked into the dust cloud and saw that the demon was about to crush his friends. He swore. There was nothing he could do to help them.
Suddenly, a gigantic silhouette exploded from the lake and seized the demon’s torso between its daunting jaws. The stunned behemoth roared with Hell’s fury and thrashed in the female mosasaur’s crushing grip. They fell against the temple steps with a resounding thud and mashed the ranting Charlie Simmons.
Dex stood and applauded the mosasaur’s timely arrival. The female mosasaur was much larger than the male they’d encountered in the bayou. This one was at least seventy feet long. A killer lizard with an attitude!
The demon flailed and ripped flesh off the female’s snout with its four lethal hands. The mosasaur’s cries mixed with the demon’s horrific wails. Her jaws tightened, perforating the demon’s armor. Blood cascaded from the wounds like cataracts.
But the female’s wounds increasingly sapped her strength, and her fierce grip grew tenuous. One of her paddles was missing, and her blood seeped onto the temple steps. The demon took advantage of her weakened condition by repeatedly slamming its doubled hands into her skull. She slipped toward the lake, and they tumbled into the water. It drove its spiked fingers into her sides, preparing to drown its enemy. Suddenly, another monstrous figure burst from the surface and grasped the demon’s neck and head!
The male mosasaur! It had returned to the grotto in time for the ceremony after all! Jackson mused that paleontologists didn’t know everything, after all. The mosasaur covered the distance between the bayou and the grotto at an incredible speed.
Stimulated by her mate’s presence, the female ignored her acute wounds and clamped her jaws tighter around her enemy. With two mighty tugs, she and the male ripped the demon in half. Its struggles and unearthly wails ceased abruptly.
Dex exhaled deeply. The demon was a goner! He looked for Simmons, but all he saw was a pulpy red blot near the splintered pole in the settling dust.
Dex stumbled toward his friends, but the grotto walls started spinning around him. The golden temple blurred, and the spent sheriff dropped hard to his knees before toppling onto his side, unconscious.
Chapter 85
Teddi welcomed Jackson as he entered the private terminal at the Fort Lauderdale airport. Jackson’s sense of style hadn’t changed since she’d first met him. He wore his typical white slacks, white linen shirt, and sandals.
He appraised Teddi as she ran to him. Her white shirt, black slacks, hip holster, and black shoes proclaimed FBI business all the way, but she hugged him tightly.
“You’re looking, uh . . . official,” he offered.
She grinned. “You certainly know how to sweep a girl off her feet, Jackson.”
They walked leisurely toward her rented car.
“Sorry. Flattery’s not my strong point,” he apologized.
Teddi squeezed his arm. “That’s an understatement.”
They slipped into a waiting black Towncar and cruised toward I-95.
He scanned the luxury car’s interior. “You’ve moved up in the world.”
She puffed her chest and laughed. “I’m the new district supervisor.”
His brows arched. “Really! Which district?”
“Charlie’s. The southeast.”
He studied her as she merged into the heavy freeway traffic. “Hmm. My neck of the woods.”
“Looks that way . . . unless you move out.”
He laughed. “Fat chance.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Jackson turned and faced her. “So what else’s new with you?”
“I’m driving in the Florida sunshine for a change. The rain’s over for a while.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
She flashed him a teasing glance. “No shit, but I’m not talking till our barbeque at Dex’s. That’s why we’re having a group get-together, remember?”
He grinned slyly. “Just thought I’d give it a shot.”
Dex greeted them from the smoking backyard barbeque pit when they rounded the corner of his house. Jackson noted that there were a few more gray flecks in his thinning auburn hair. Jilly was there, too, sporting a brief spandex sports top and slimming shorts. She was definitely not the stereotypical, fossil-hunting college professor. John Redfeather sat on the end of the picnic table tucked in the shade of an ancient banyan tree and spoke earnestly to Jilly.
Teddi waved to Dex. “Look what the cat dragged in,” she said, and hugged him.
“I gotta get rid of those cats one of these days,” he teased, and firmly shook Jackson’s hand like old friends. “The beer’s in the cooler. Help yourself.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Jackson replied. He lifted two dripping beers from the ice chest, twisted off the caps, and handed one to Teddi.
She clinked her glass bottle against his. “Cheers.”
“To good times,” he countered, and took a long swallow. The company, beer, and sunshine invigorated him.
Jilly and John drifted over, and they exchanged warm greetings.
“What’re you grilling, Dex?” Jackson asked.
“Ribs. I can’t barbeque anything else. I turn perfectly good hamburgers to cinders and hot dogs into carbon rods. Ribs are my one and only specialty.”
“Must be a gene,” Jilly added with a grin.
Dex dodged a thick plume of smoke. “A recessive gene. My mom and dad couldn’t grill worth a damn.”
Everyone laughed, and soon they were seated in the welcome shade feasting on ribs, cole slaw, baked beans, corn on the cob, and a summer pasta salad. Everyone dug in with gusto, and it wasn’t till the final square inch of stomach space was filled that anyone uttered anything besides compliments to the chef and cooks.
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