The Judas Line

by Stone, Mark Everett

  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.

  “Please don’t do that again,” I rasped through clenched teeth. “Please, please, please!”

  “No promises, but if it will make you feel better, take a drink from a vial.”

  Sounded like good advice, so I did.

  If someone had peeled back my skull, exposing my brain, then poured white lighting on the vulnerable gray matter, that wouldn’t even come close to the feeling that coursed through my skull.

  Wow.

  “A kick in the pants, eh Mike?”

  “It’s not my pants that have been kicked.” I shook my head in an effort to chase away a sudden case of double vision.

  “I should have planned to stop here first,” Morgan grated after turning onto a residential street. “But noooooooo, I had to think of returning this stupid truck first.” His fist smacked into the steering wheel three or four times, his anger pulsing through the cab like heat waves.

  “You’re only human, Morgan.”

  “You sure about that?” he snarled.

  “Of course I am, you nitwit, now shut up and drive,” I barked out like every Drill Instructor in history—hard, fast and loud. He tried to hide it, but I caught the telltale beginnings of a smile.

  Smirking myself, I stared out the windshield as we pulled into a large parking lot. The brick building dominating it looked more like a high-class no-tell motel than a church, but the cross on its peaked roof gave lie to that impression. The sign in front declared it to be the St. Thomas Catholic Church.

  Screeching to a halt under the overhang between a pair of pillars and the front doors, we jumped out, scrambling, stumbling, only to find both of the main doors locked.

  Undeterred, Morgan shouted a Word and the right-hand door shattered, the pieces flying inward in a shower of deadly splinters.

  “I’ll pay for it,” he panted, propelling me into the church and up the nave.

  It took a second or two for my eyes to adjust to the gloom and by the time we reached the altar, the dancing spots of light in my eyes had faded somewhat. “What now, Morgan and why a church?”

  He led me to the altar. “Because no demon will enter holy ground, and no elemental would dare perpetrate violence in what they call ‘the Creator’s footprint on the earth.’ This is where the Grail is strongest, in the hands of a true believer.” He leaned in and whispered fiercely. “You banished two demons, Mike, and I can tell you see the Grail as it really is; you weren’t fooled for one second. It has no reason to hide from you.” My eyes widened in shock as I realized he was right. It didn’t look like a silver brooch or glass rose; it looked like what it was, a simple cup. He dug out the Silver from the front pocket of his jeans and I decanted the Grail from the purple bag. “We could just dump the coins into the Grail,” he continued. “That might work, but it also might destroy both of them, and I won’t be the person who broke the Holy Grail, man.”

  Understandable. “Now what?” A strange, distant thap thap thapping sound came to my ears and we both shared a nervous look as we realized its significance. A helicopter was hovering above us.

  “Crap,” he muttered, sweat beading his forehead. Hurriedly he emptied the contents of the little black bag into the Grail, which was nestled in the palm of my hand.

  Cha-chink. Tiny, innocuous coins, gleaming bright, flooded the bowl. Roughly circular, they had a shining brilliance that drew the eye and their weight was a steady pressure in my hand. It was one of the most beautiful—and most terrible—sights I’d ever seen.

  The Silver made me sick to my stomach; a burning bile collected at the back of my throat and my skin crawled. Maybe the Lord had graced me with prescience, I didn’t know, but I knew that if I touched those glittering, malevolent coins, something bad would happen, something biblical.

  Rotors cleaved the air outside the Church. The copter would be overhead any second now, I realized.

  “Mike, all you have to do is exorcize the coins,” Morgan breathed. “That’s all you have to do, man.” He gently placed his hands on either side of my face. “You can do it, Mike.”

  A Ritual of Exorcism on the fly, just like that? “I don’t know the words to exorcize an … an artifact.” Thwap, thwap, thwap … much closer.

  Morgan’s breath, slightly sweet, caressed my cheek, his lips only inches away. “My friend, it’s not about words, it’s about faith. Now, duck!” The Beretta appeared in his hand as if by magic, while his other pushed me down behind the altar.

  Thwap, thwap, thwap … then deafening reports as Morgan fired several times. A scream of pain. More reports and splinters of altar rained down upon me.

  Faith, it’s about faith, I thought, staring at the beige-rimmed bowl with its terrible contents. Faith. Faith. Faith in myself, faith in Morgan, and more importantly, faith in the Lord. But what word could contain such faith? Faith that when our backs are up against it, the Lord will be there lending us strength as we falter, courage when we have none, and peace when our time has come. What words could convey all that? I’d fought demons, seen/felt elementals and trusted in a man who, had things been different, would have been my greatest enemy instead of a man I’d come to think of, not as a lost soul, but as a brother. What choice did I have?

  As slivers of wood rained down and bullets tore gaping holes in the cross hanging on the wall above my head, the words came to me—timeless in their simplicity and love. Not an exorcism, but a simple prayer:

  The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

  He leadeth me beside the still waters.

  He restoreth my soul:

  He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake.

  Another scream of pain split the air along with the sound of hundreds of rounds tearing the pews into matchsticks. There came an agonized groan and I knew Morgan was hurt. I heard someone, a woman, yell, “Give it up, Olivier!”

  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

  I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;

  Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;

  Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

  It filled me, the Lord’s grace, a peaceful feeling that transcended everything, and I was filled with the knowledge of what must occur next. As if guided by a will not my own, my free hand hovered ov
er the cup of Christ and settled delicately on the rim.

  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

  And I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

  The flesh of my palm grew warm, then hot, but there was no pain, just a sense of rightness and distantly, as if from a half-remembered dream, I heard a low-pitched, agonized scream that echoed through the foundations of reality. Light came from the Grail, blazing through my hand as if the tissue was transparent, light that shot up to, and through, the roof, a beam of pure silver that speared the sky.

  With the abruptness of a summer squall, it vanished. I removed my hand from the Grail to reveal … dust. Grayish, grainy dust that puffed up at the slightest breath. Silence gripped the church, broken only Morgan’s triumphant shout, “You did it, Mike!”

  I would’ve smiled, but at that moment a man dressed in a desert camo, covered in body armor, wearing a black helmet and mask, burst through the door that led to the back of the church, to the baptismal font. A wicked-looking MP-5 SMG, all matte black and deadly as a spider, was clutched in his hands. As if in slow motion he aimed the weapon and pulled the trigger.

  Bullets streaked their way toward me, my death assured.

  Then a power and fury filled my eyes with glory.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Morgan

  Through the front door I saw zip lines descend to the parking lot, SS commandos dropping like arachnids on silken threads. My feet thudded on the dark green carpet of the nave as I ran toward the door, Beretta raised. My first shot went high, I’m pretty sure over the shoulder of the first commando, but my second shot took him in the throat, tearing out chunks of spine through the back of his neck in a red mist, dropping him like a rag doll.

  I flung myself to the left, landing between pews just as bullets stitched the air I had occupied. Close, but all I had to do was stay alive long enough to keep those idiots off Mike’s back so he could do his job. After that I really didn’t give a damn, not anymore, I was just so tired of it all. At least I could make that SS team regret their arrogance and give the Patron a big shitburger to eat.

  Bullets took large pieces out of the top of the pews as I rose to my knees, keeping my head down. A silenced SMG, I’d bet. From a crouch I lunged back into the aisle, the Beretta spitting lead though the shattered doorway, miraculously catching another heavily armored commando in the shoulder. A good hit; there are a lot of functioning bits in the shoulder and a bullet will really screw up your century. I completed the roll, landing between more pews directly opposite of where I had been.

  “Good shooting, Olivier,” came a soft, female voice from outside, one I knew oh so well.

  Shit. Annabeth. Just what I didn’t need. Julian and the Patron knew exactly how to get under my skin. Zero to irritating in two seconds flat.

  I knew better than to answer. She wanted me focused on the front door, so I spun, catching sight of a man coming through one of the side doors. Two shots in the groin had him on the ground shrieking and spewing blood.

  The first bullet hit my spine, the second my kidney. Two more flung me around to catch the fifth right above the heart. I caught Annabeth’s incredulous look as the flattened, crushed lead nuggets fell to the floor around me. The Beretta spoke again, two rounds into her armored chest. Tit for tat, I suppose.

  She should’ve paid more attention to Botanical Magic, although very few do. It doesn’t promise immediate rewards, but it packs a hell of a wallop. The potion I’d drunk earlier not only provided me some much needed strength, but it was the magical equivalent of Kevlar.

  Staggering, backing toward the altar, I emptied the Beretta out the door and slammed home a new clip, the pain from the rounds I’d taken a furious spike to my tender flesh. I was sure I would pee blood for a week.

  Two more rounds, stomach and chest, each harder as the efficacy of the potion began to wear thin. Snarling, I fell to my knees, sure I was a dead man kneeling.

  “Give it up, Olivier!” Annabeth shouted above the roar of the helicopter, keeping herself inconveniently out of sight.

  My reply was as inventive as it was profane. “Sorry, God,” I mumbled as I remembered whose house I was in.

  Stained glass shattered, coating two bodies as they flew into opposite ends of the church. Soon, I knew, it would be over. Hurry Mike, I thought, Running out of options. As I levered myself upright, I shouted a Healing and Vigor, going for the gusto but they were poor imitations of their potential. I’d used too much magic and it was beginning to drag me down, a spiraling descent into Backlash.

  One commando fell, brains splattering the inside of his helmet as I twisted and spun, spraying bullets. I felt a blow to the ribs like the kick of a horse and I knew the potion was done for. The next ones would tear me apart.

  It started as a low-pitched whine, a deep vibration that hit the edge of perception, teasing the ears. Slowly it built into a bone chattering buzz that held a wealth of anger and frustration, rage translated into sound.

  I knew what that sound was.

  It was over, done. I’d won. Or, I should say, we had won, Mike and I. My only regret was that he would soon follow me in death. But I’d probably take the express elevator down, down, down to a reward that no soul had ever been subjected to. I had no doubt that the Patron would set aside a special place for me in Hell.

  It didn’t matter. “You did it, Mike,” I cried victoriously.

  A ragged furrow appeared on my chest as the gunman to my right, the one I wasn’t able to kill, fired his weapon. I held out my arms like a benediction, mirroring Christ on his cross behind me. It was time.

  In tones of righteous fury, I heard Mike shout. “Thou Shalt Not!” I spun to see him stand up from behind the altar, tall and proud, a vision of anger and judgment, the Grail cupped in one big hand. He stared at a gunman, who emptied a full clip at the enraged priest.

  Every bullet missed. Instead the altar shredded apart, splintering into a thousand pieces, as if the hand he held palm outward in front of him had shoved the bullets aside. The commando, no fool I guess, dropped his emptied weapon and hightailed it out of there.

  More wood splintered around Mike as he turned, the Grail in one hand, the other still stretched out before him. I thought he was a blazing pillar of wrath in New Mexico, exorcizing the first demon we encountered, but that was a flickering candle compared to the bonfire that burned behind the shattered remains of the altar.

  His black flattop fairly gave off sparks as it waved slightly, as if affected by an unseen ocean current. Thin shoots of silver colored his otherwise night-black hair at the temples, while his presence, always a commanding one, drew the eye like a magnet and gripped the mind with implacable golden fingers.

  Behind me an SMG roared and I knew I was a dead man, but the only thing that happened was the formation of new craters as the bullets slammed into the wall behind Mike.

  “What the fuck!” Annabeth breathed from behind me.

  I couldn’t help grinning, although she couldn’t see it. “Kind of puts the Patron into perspective, doesn’t it?”

  Mike’s eyes bored into mine and I felt an electric thrill. “Run.”

  I stepped forward. “Hey, man, I can’t do that!”

  His voice became a Command. “Run, my friend. They will not stop you.” His smile filled me with hope. “Go now, out the back.”

  My feet refused to obey my orders, instead following Mike’s. I risked a look behind to see Annabeth and three more commandos; all staring in rapt fascination as Mike slowly descended the stairs to the aisle toward them.

  Out the back, still taking the lead, my sneakers slapped on asphalt then dry, brown grass. A couple hundred feet directly ahead was a fence, a barrier between the church property and track housing, and from behind and above, the helicopter, a UH-60 Black Hawk.

  Heart thudding, I ran toward the fence line, hating myself for abandoning my friend but knowing I had no choice. At fifty feet from the church parking lot, the
first round grazed the outside of my left thigh, leaving a burning trail of blood. The second powdered the earth in front of me, throwing up a softball-sized divot.

  Face and chest hit the ground at the same time as 50 mm rounds stuttered across the area around my body. Whoever was firing was either playing with me or had orders to bring me in alive. Since mercy wasn’t in Dagger Man, or Family, vocabulary, my guess was on the former.

  With a growl, I rumbled into grass, the Language of Earth tumbling from my lips like stones and the smell of hot metal overcoming the scent of dry grass and dust. Faster and faster I gabbled, pleading, begging as the helicopter circled above me. I could almost feel the 50 cals sights on the back of my neck.

  Surprisingly, Earth responded much quicker than I had anticipated with an interrogative shake of the ground around my navel.

  Thwap, thwap, thawp … The copter started to land and I risked a glance. A helmeted commando sat at the open port training the muzzle of a 50 cal at my head, the three rotating barrels ready to spit a quick and messy death. I tried not to piss myself.

  Earth rattled, shaking under my prostrate form, demanding a startling price. A steep price, but at that point I was in no position to negotiate. Firing back an affirmative, Earth shook harder as the Black Hawk landed not more than twenty feet away, spraying me with sand and grit.

  Suddenly, the ground swallowed me whole.

  BOOK TWO

  Second Man

  Chapter Twenty

  Mike

  I opened the manila envelope once more with every intention of finishing Jude’s, now Morgan’s, tale. I wondered if he was well.

  A Forest of Trouble