“Yeah, I guess,” I answered slowly. “But can you really help us deal with the… things inside us?”
I do not require ‘dealing with,’ Uriel said stiffly. I require only control and victory.
Diane hesitated, but then she nodded. “Yes… We can help. Does that mean I’ve convinced you to come with me?”
I glanced at Leo. The biker rocked onto the balls of his feet, weighing the risks of what Diane was asking of us. Leo stopped moving and lifted his chin.
“We’ve already got answers and help waiting for us in San Diego,” he said.
Carlos. I wondered if Leo’s uncle had something to do with SPOT. A former west coast member, maybe? If Diane’s people were listening to our phones and Carlos realized that, it might explain why he didn’t want to talk to us over an unsecured line or whatever. I didn’t know much about Carlos… Could a toughened old biker belong to the same group as this preacher-slash-scientist lady?
Diane sighed again and looked over her glasses at us.
“Well, we do have snipers surrounding this hotel,” she said. “I would rather talk this out with you. Believe it or not, we’re all on the same side. But this is far too important to leave to chance. If you’ll forgive the cliché, you’re coming with me, one way or the other.”
“So much for the good-cop routine,” I muttered.
“I’m sorry,” Diane answered. “Truly, I am. But the fate of all creation hangs in the balance.”
I groaned. She sounded just like Uriel.
This mortal has no part in our battle, Uriel said. Do not let her divert us from our goal.
Your goal, I corrected. Not mine. I only wanted to get away from Crayhill and see the world.
Leo’s eyes narrowed and he took a step toward Diane, raising his gun a few degrees.
“If your people start shooting, you won’t survive very long,” Leo said.
I wasn’t certain if he was talking about the SPOT snipers catching Diane in the crossfire, or saying that Leo would shoot her himself.
“I’m not excited about the prospect, but my people have their orders,” Diane said. “With any luck, maybe it will help convince you how seriously I take this matter. But other innocents might be injured. Your celestial natures call for terribly large caliber weapons, I’m afraid.”
That didn’t really leave us very many choices. I was reasonably sure that Uriel could protect me from whatever toys SPOT had brought to this particular party, but whenever I used the archangel’s power, their hold got a little tighter.
And that went double for Leo, too. Compared to Death, Uriel was friendly and reasonable. Leo was already fighting Death every moment for control and we didn’t dare give the horseman any opening to seize the reins.
“Alright, fine,” I sighed. “We’ll go to wherever it is you want to talk. Just give us an address and we’ll meet you there.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Diane answered. “I’m afraid I can’t trust you to make the trip. But we can give you a ride. All of you.”
She inclined her head toward Leo, then at the window and presumably the Packmaster outside. I tried to figure out some way to negotiate the point, but the roar of an engine thundered across the parking lot and rattled the windows. Diane flinched a little and Leo snapped his gun up.
“What the hell are you doing?” he snarled.
I ran over to the window and braced myself, hoping that the SPOT snipers weren’t too jumpy. No rifle bullets came punching through the glass – yet – but I recognized three of the same big black panel vans that had cornered us in Zamora Canyon down in the parking lot below.
A dozen people in dark paramilitary garb – including bulletproof vests and reinforced belts all hung with weapons – were trying to wrestle Leo’s motorcycle onto a trailer. The Packmaster revved furiously and one of the SPOT guys jumped away with a shout. Blood spurted from his hand and the others fell back, grabbing their guns.
“Shit,” Leo growled.
He ran out through the door and down the hall, toward the stairs. Diane and I glanced at each other, then took off after Leo. I was younger and my legs were longer, so I got to the stairwell first – just in time to see Leo leap the final steps and kick open the door at the bottom.
I chased him out into the hotel parking lot as Leo leveled his gun at the Spotters or whatever the hell they were called.
“You! Back the fuck off!” Leo shouted. “Don’t touch my bike!”
One of the Spotters rushed their injured friend away from the demonic Packmaster and toward the vans, but the others jumped back behind their trailer and grabbed weapons. There were already red dots wavering all over Leo as SPOT snipers acquired their target from the nearby rooftops. When I glanced down, I found several more of the crimson laser sights centered right over my heart.
You are not dying tonight, Uriel said. Not before the final battle and not by mortal weapons!
I felt the angel’s light swelling within me and clenched my fists desperately tight as they began to glow. No, not now…!
Diane ran out through the back door of the hotel, holding her hands up in the air.
“Wait!” she shouted. “Stand down!”
The little red dots vanished from my chest and the Spotters on the ground still held guns, but with muzzles pointed down at the asphalt. Uriel grumbled inside me as Diane turned toward Leo.
“Please,” she said. “People are watching. You don’t want any of them hurt and neither do we. Put the gun away.”
Leo glanced around the parking lot. There were a few faces peeking out from between the drapes of their hotel rooms and one man had stopped in the back door of the Chinese restaurant, staring wide-eyed at the scene unfolding outside.
“I only want to talk,” Diane said. “And to take you and your steed somewhere safe while we do it.”
“Jaz?” Leo asked. “What do you think?”
Why the hell was he asking me? Leo was the bona fide badass, not me. But I shook my head.
“I don’t think we can really refuse,” I said. “Sounds like they need to talk to us, and we need to talk to them.”
Leo replaced the safety on his handgun and slipped it into the back of his jeans.
“Fine,” he said. “Let’s go talk.”
Diane let out a breath that sounded like relief. “I hope that you’ll understand when I ask you to ride with me, rather than the steed. It will be right behind us, I promise, but we’re on a bit of a timetable here.”
Leo and I nodded, but the Packmaster revved again and the rear tire spun up, screaming against the blacktop.
“Can you convince your steed to come along quietly?” Diane shouted over the noise.
“Not really,” Leo said.
But he dutifully hurried over to the motorcycle and grabbed the handlebars. The tires stopped spinning, though the engine continued to growl ominously. The Spotters in the parking lot straightened and approached the Packmaster warily. Leo looked at them and every one of the SPOT soldiers froze, watching him.
“You really don’t want to load it up without my help,” Leo said. “Trust me.”
The Spotters all glanced toward the unmarked black van where one of their own was hopefully receiving medical attention. Slowly, they crept closer to the motorcycle and Leo helped them roll the bike into the waiting trailer. It growled, but Leo held onto the handlebars and the Packmaster let itself be strapped down.
“I’ll see you again soon,” Leo promised. He patted his bike and glared around at the Spotters. “And there had better not be a single scratch when I do.”
“I’m not sure we even have the ability to scratch his steed,” Diane murmured.
I gave her a sidelong glance. “I doubt you want to try, though. That guy they hauled away could have lost a hand. You realize that Leo is linked to his motorcycle, right? He’ll know if you steal that thing.”
Diane nodded. “Yes, I understand. We don’t tangle lightly with the celestial forces.”
“The who?”
I asked
“The timeless entities within you and Mister Valdis,” Diane answered. “The archangels and the horsemen, as I believe you call them.”
The man behind the Chinese restaurant had called out his manager, who was now speaking animatedly into a cell phone. More curtains were being yanked open, and there had to be at least sixty pairs of eyes on us as Leo jogged back over.
“We had better get moving,” Diane said. “If you would please follow me…”
I half wondered if Diane was going to offer us candy to get into one of the windowless vans. But the SPOT director pulled out her own phone – it was starting to feel like everyone had a working cell phone except us – and said something into it that I couldn’t hear. A moment later, the loud thump of rotors filled the air and a black helicopter flew over the hotel. It descended, making a warm, dusty wind race across the parking lot, and landed on the still-hot asphalt.
All of the watching eyes went wide and tourists stared with mouths hanging open. Diane pointed and then led us to the waiting helicopter. I’m pretty sure she smirked and waved to our audience as she climbed in. Leo jumped into the helicopter, then held out his hand to me.
I took it and let him heave me up. My legs were feeling like overcooked pasta and I appreciated the help. I dropped into one of the seats across from Diane and began trying to figure out the safety harness. A pair of SPOT soldiers slid in on either side of the director and another closed the door from the outside.
As soon as we were sealed up inside, the helicopter took off. My stomach lurched and I grabbed Leo’s thigh. He stared down at my hand for a moment, then put his own on top and squeezed gently.
Diane took down an oversized set of headphones from a hook behind her. There was a microphone attached to one side that she lowered toward her mouth. She gestured over our shoulders and I turned awkwardly in my safety harness to find another pair of headsets.
I grabbed one and pulled it down into my hair, but Leo was blindly groping, unwilling to take his eyes off the two big SPOT goons that sat flanking Diane. They were even bigger than Leo – which was saying something – and covered in bulky black body armor, each holding some seriously mean-looking guns pointed right at us.
I helped Leo pull down and put on the other headset. When we were both situated, Diane gave us a thumbs-up.
“First helicopter ride?” she asked.
I could see Diane’s lips moving, but her voice came through the headphones. I nodded, and so did Leo. Mine was a little bit shakier than his, though. I had never left Crayhill before all of this began, and that meant no airplanes. If they were anything like the helicopter, I would stick to motorcycles. Even riding on the back of a furious demon-bike didn’t make my stomach dip and churn like this.
Flying does not need to be unpleasant, Uriel told me. We have wings.
You have wings, I thought. I just have motion sickness.
We can fly.
I’m not jumping out of a helicopter, Uriel.
Leo sat silently next to me, staring down the SPOT soldiers. Diane glanced sidelong at her two guards.
“It’s a short flight,” she said. “But not one we can risk either of you losing control in the middle of.”
I glanced at their big guns again, gulped and looked out the window instead. We seemed to be flying northeast. San Diego was in precisely the opposite direction… I hoped that Diane was being honest with us about the short trip. I didn’t know how much time we could afford to waste. Leo was fighting a losing battle against Death for his own body – and I was doing only a little better.
Still, it felt strangely good to be moving north. It was hard to describe the sensation, but it was like smelling the neighbor’s barbecue when you’re hungry. I desperately wanted to go toward it. Quickly.
That’s you, Uriel, isn’t it? I asked. We’re getting closer to the other angels. That’s what I’m feeling now.
Yes. I sense my brethren drawing nearer.
Diane’s not taking us to them or anything, is she? I asked.
No, I do not think so, Uriel answered. The others are still some distance away. You have not made it easy for them to find us.
“Hey, can you SPOT guys track the horsemen and angels?” I shouted at Diane.
My voice screamed back through the headphones, making both Leo and Diane wince. I flushed, cleared my throat and then adjusted the angle of my headset’s microphone self-consciously. Apparently they were designed to let us talk without screaming like groupies at a heavy metal concert.
Good to know.
“Uh… sorry,” I said in a more normal voice. “First time. But can you? Do you know how to track the angels and horsemen?”
“Not with instruments or sensors, if that’s what you mean,” Diane answered. “We watch the tabloids and social media, for the most part. People who report seeing angels or the devil. That sort of thing. We monitor police channels, too. But it’s imprecise, to say the least.”
“Have you encountered any of the others?” Leo asked.
Diane leaned forward, drumming her fingers on one knee. “Yes. We’ve had encounters with the chaotic entity you would call Famine, and the angels Raphael and Gabriel.”
“Were any of them… like us?” I asked.
“No,” Diane answered. “I’m afraid not. Each of the entities were fully manifested. Whoever their vessels used to be, they’re only shells now.”
What happened to those people? The other… vessels? I asked.
They gave themselves over to us, like Gabriel’s host, Uriel said. Or they were taken, like Pestilence. As Death will eventually take Leo.
Uriel, those were human beings, I protested. People that you all just… erased. And you want to do that to me?
The final battle must be fought. It was decided at the dawn of your universe.
“How did those encounters go?” I asked Diane.
I remembered Gabriel at the Arrow motel and could guess the answer. Diane drummed her fingers faster on her knee and shook her head.
“We managed to slow Famine and Gabriel,” she said. “But weren’t able to stop any of them. Highway 13 will need miles of road work and East Fork, Montana, won’t be appearing on any more maps. Which is part of why we’re desperate to talk to you.”
Mortals are unequal to the task of fighting us, Uriel said.
I squinted at the SPOT director. “You’re a priest. Shouldn’t you be on the angels’ side? Not trying to fight them?”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Diane said. “There’s no true good or evil in this, so let’s say that I am on the side of life.”
“Did you ever run into that Pestilence asshole?” Leo asked.
“We attempted to isolate Pestilence on Highway 44,” Diane said. “While it was chasing you, in fact. But when we closed in, Pestilence charged the line and broke through. Rather easily, I’m sorry to say.”
Leo frowned. “What about War?”
“Alarmingly quiet, actually,” Diane told him. “We don’t know why, but we’ve barely heard anything from the final horseman.”
“But it’s out there, isn’t it?” I asked.
Diane nodded. “All eight entities have manifested on Earth.”
I wanted to lean against Leo’s jacket shoulder and bury my face in the leather, but this wasn’t exactly the time or place for comfort. This was the time and place to… I had no idea, actually.
When I dreamed of running away from Crayhill, I used to imagine exploring New York or Los Angeles. Maybe leaving the States entirely and heading for Paris or Prague. Being coerced into a black helicopter by some kind of secret society had never occurred to me. My daydreams really should have included the possibility of alien abduction, the Rapture, or maybe a zombie virus outbreak. I resolved to be a little more creative next time. You know, if there was a next time.
The SPOT helicopter bumped and I couldn’t stifle a shriek. Leo’s hand tightened on mine. To reassure me, I figured. There was no way a big, tattooed criminal bi
ker like Leo was scared of flying, right?
“We’re just coming in to land,” Diane said.
The helicopter descended over an arid, sloping mountainside studded with concrete bunkers. There was a massive tunnel cut into the stone and reinforced with more thick-looking gray concrete.
“Uh, where are we?” I asked.
“Blue Mountain,” Diane answered. “It’s a decommissioned military base we acquired about twenty years ago. I suppose that if we’re SPOT, then this is the doghouse.”
Diane arched her eyebrow over her glasses and smiled at us. I didn’t laugh, though. Honestly, I had no idea what to make of Diane’s friendly demeanor, but I hadn’t for a second forgotten about the two armored soldiers sitting next to her. This wasn’t some day trip with a sweet old auntie, no matter how nice Diane appeared to be.
I do not trust aunts and uncles, Uriel said. This one or Uncle Carlos.
Diane isn’t really my aunt, I told the angel. But yeah, I don’t trust this lady. Her people tried to shoot us… But I need to find out how to end this.
In glorious battle.
Some other way, I corrected. Some way that doesn’t get me shot by Spotters or torn apart by horsemen.
Uriel didn’t seem to have an answer for that. The helicopter landed with a bone-jarring thump. Diane removed her headset, so Leo and I did the same and then followed her out as another dark-clad Spotter pulled open the door. Diane waved to us as she jogged away, hunched over with her neat gray jacket whipping in the artificial windstorm. Riding motorcycles always did a number on my hair anyway, so I didn’t care about the wind… But I ran doubled over, too, unable to escape the utterly irrational fear of the helicopter rotor chopping my head off.
Diane’s two Spotter guards tailed us, weapons lowered but still pointed in our general direction. When we were far enough away, the helicopter lifted off again, probably flying to wherever it was stored when it wasn’t ferrying possessed weirdos around. Diane straightened up and smoothed out her windblown gray hair.
“This way,” she told us.
400 Horsepower of the Apocalypse Page 22