The Beast smiled because it knew nothing would survive its fiery breath. It adjusted its wings and leaned to the right; the winds filled the leathery membranes along its wings and it swiveled back towards the town for another pass.
McAvoy stood over Rick's unconscious body near the makeshift retaining wall. The waters of the River Roe were splashing against the barrier, trying to tear it asunder. McAvoy held his rifle in his shaking hands, breathing heavily, ashamed that he had to strike a fellow officer. He could not explain what had come over Morgan. Rarely had he seen a seasoned soldier fall into such a state of panic that they were unreachable. He shook his head and then ordered Jacobson to drag Rick into the cave. The specialist complied and set to work.
The branches of the old oak tree rattled as the wind whipped about him. With the wind beating upon his face, he witnessed the grace and precision of the Beast, which swooped down upon the abandoned town like a bird of prey.
At the last moment, the Beast's wings opened wide, catching the air around its massive body, landing on the ground with the elegance of a bird of prey. He shielded his eyes when the thing raised its head and unleashed a cone of fire so bright and intense that McAvoy swore he could feel the heat from where he stood. The flames melted and disintegrated many of the buildings in front of the Beast. The blast of hellish fire seemed to McAvoy to be akin to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament.
The Beast searched for them; somehow, it knew they were on the island, and like any normal predator, it would hunt them down and destroy them.
Flames erupted into the air as the Beast tore through the center of town, and McAvoy relaxed a bit knowing that for now it was focused on Limavady and wasn't heading in their direction. Jacobson climbed out of the cave and said something about Morgan.
The Beast's screams reverberated across the land, deafening the men as the sound waves hit them. McAvoy snapped free of the hypnotic spell and turned to shout his orders to Jacobson. Jacobson responded immediately and crawled deeper into the cave where Wells and Morgan were.
McAvoy knew what he had to do to save the lives of his men. He regretted losing Wells, and there was no way he would lose Jacobson and Morgan too.
Once he received the all clear that Jacobson was inside, he removed his pack, took a few items out of it, and then pushed it and his equipment into the cave. Rick woke up from his unconscious stupor trying to understand where he was.
"Relax," Jacobson whispered. "You're in the cave below the tree. You flew into some sort of panic and McAvoy had to subdue you."
"How long?" Rick asked.
"Only a few minutes. In fact, McAvoy just barely ordered us in."
Rick crawled over to the entrance of the cave and noticed McAvoy's things in the small crawl space. He pulled the equipment aside, expecting to see the sergeant crawling down behind. Instead, he watched McAvoy roll a large boulder into place, sealing off the entrance to the cave. Rick cried out in protest, but it was too late.
He spun around in the darkness to face Jacobson. "Did you know about this?"
Jacobson turned on a light and shook his head. Rick looked back at the door, hoping to see that McAvoy had changed his mind. Unfortunately, he hadn't, and the two men sat in darkness with only the glow of Jacobson's light to keep away the gloom.
Rick clicked on his comm. "Sir, what in the world are you doing?"
All he heard in response was the crackle of the comm line.
"McAvoy, are you there?" He asked.
Again no response.
Rick clicked on his comm again, but this time he felt a hand grasp his own. He looked up to see Jacobson in the dim light. Jacobson held his hand firmly over Rick's and shook his head.
"It's no use. He isn't going to respond. He's got some plan swirling around in his head, and nothing we can say or do is going to stop him. I only hope that this isn't the last that we've seen of that wily old fart."
Outside the cave, they heard the sounds of rock and mud being compacted around the entrance, sealing both of them inside the tomb. Each bang of a rock pounded in Rick's ears like the sound of a nail being driven into his own coffin. The sound continued for several more minutes before it was gone.
With the cave being sealed off, they could barely hear the sound of the Beast's screams outside. When Jacobson's light wasn't on, the cave was so dark that neither of the men could see their hands in front of their faces. Rick shuffled through his pack, hardly able to contain his panic in the darkness.
"Slow your breathing." Rick heard Jacobson say as he searched through his pack. "If you don't calm down, you’ll hyperventilate and pass out."
Rick stopped and took in several deep breaths. He mentally counted to ten and then exhaled and repeated that a few more times. Soon he relaxed and felt more at peace. Rick heard the distinct crack of two glow sticks being activated. He looked up and Jacobson was bathed in a soft green glow as he offered one to Rick.
Thank you, Rick mouthed.
Jacobson nodded and situated himself on the floor using his pack as a makeshift pillow. When he was comfortable, he bade Rick to do the same. Rick glanced up at the entrance and felt torn between orders and his conscience. He wondered what Henry would do in this situation.
The situation was born of a nightmare, of some twisted fairy tale. The odds were stacked against them. There certainly was no possible way they could hope to outlast or defend them against the Beast. Rick wasn't sure what to do, and he doubted that even Henry would know what to do in a situation like this. How did you fight a Dragon?
Rick hadn't believed the stories that had come back about the Beast, but now he had seen the thing first hand, and indeed it was a dragon, the very same mythical creature known throughout every culture across the globe. There wasn't a single culture that didn't have a story about these magical beasts.
Did people know the Beast was real and that it would return? Did they try to warn us that it was hiding beneath the surface, waiting for the right time to return? Rick wondered.
Questions ran through Rick’s head; questions he knew couldn't be answered. If only Henry was here, but he wasn't, so he had to help his team. Rick wanted to go against his orders, crawl up the tunnel, push open the cave entrance, and pull Sergeant McAvoy into the cave with them. However, Rick decided that ultimately he had to follow his orders. He knew in his heart that was what Henry would do. So Rick glanced back up one final time, wishing things were different, and then crawled over to a spot across from Jacobson and lay down.
As he lay, adjusting his pack under his head, he whispered a prayer to the universe, to God, or whatever deity—if there was one—for help to get him and his companions out of this hellhole.
Henry and Lenny had spent four hours reviewing multiple files, reports, and thermal scans Mr. Perkins and the Union Forest execs had provided. They were supposedly the same files that Rick and his team had seen in preparation for their mission. The reports were frustrating because they didn’t provide much information on what they might face on the ground. Henry didn't like going into a situation cold and wanted to know every little detail to avoid any surprises.
Henry studied the reports, learning about the changes in the terrain, vegetation, and animals—whether they were deadly or not—as well as Rick's last known position. He felt that these pieces of information were key in helping them prepare for the rescue mission. However, due to extenuating circumstances, there wasn’t a lot of information about the Beast’s presence in the area over the last five years. Henry needed to know what he was up against, so he asked Lenny to hack into one of the Union Forest satellites in order to get a better grasp on the situation.
Lenny smiled as he easily accessed Union Forest’s mainframe with his newly acquired rights to their systems. Five minutes later, he was in and went about positioning their satellites to pass over Ireland so he could pull up real-time images and data reports. Henry noted a massive storm had recently raged over most of Northern Ireland four days prior.
&nb
sp; He stopped Lenny from switching off the meteorological recording because he noticed something strange moving about in the storm. He asked Lenny to move the scan over to one of the other monitors so he could examine the satellite feed while Lenny researched the videos and reports of the previous mission to retrieve the data core.
Henry watched the object streak across the breadth of the land with the storm and then stop over the town of Limavady. The knot in his stomach grew tight. Rick and his team are there, he thought. He was glued to the monitor hoping against all hope that the object would move on. Several minutes later, the object disappeared from the scan, and the area lit up like a Christmas tree; the thermal readings were off the charts.
"Get over here!" Henry shouted to Lenny while he watched the screen. "I need you to show me how to zoom in on this recorded feed."
Lenny didn't respond.
Henry looked up and found Lenny leaning on the table with his head on his arm, completely asleep and drooling on his sleeve. Deciding to let Lenny rest, Henry used the controls himself to zoom in on the feed. The storm clouds parted for a brief of moment, and what Henry saw terrified him to the bone. However, when a massive explosion lit up the scene, a small sliver of hope formed in Henry's heart. He knew Perkins and the other execs had seen this video feed. This wouldn’t have slipped passed Perkins unnoticed. Angry, he copied the video feed, placed it on a thumb drive, and erased it from the Union Forest servers. He wasn't going to let Union Forest or Perkins get away with covering their latest mess up. As he did this, he formed a new plan.
The sun rose on the eastern horizon as the door to the room opened. In walked one of Smythe's goons, causing Henry to look up from his work with bloodshot eyes. He nudged Lenny awake, who grumbled and picked his head up off the table. As Henry sauntered casually over to the table, he tried to remember the bruiser's name, but it escaped him.
Henry noticed that the man had a stun baton holstered to his hip, his hand resting a little too easily on the weapon. He could tell that the man eagerly waited for Henry or Lenny to do something that would allow him to use it.
"What can I do for you?" Henry asked.
"Mr. Perkins has requested that I retrieve and escort you to the roof," the goon answered.
"Why didn't Mr. Perkins come collect us himself?"
The goon bristled a bit and tightened his grip around the stun baton. "Are we going to have a problem here?"
Henry smiled in a disarming way. "No, I thought Mr. Perkins would be more worried that his men might attack one of us, causing another media disaster for Union Forest, seeing that it wasn't more than ten hours ago that Roger Smythe and several of his underlings assaulted my friend and I here.”
Henry signaled for Lenny to start collecting all the files and images. He helped Lenny pick up a few of the remaining files on the table before turning back around to speak with the hooligan.
"I wonder, do you believe that a company as large as Union Forest would protect someone like you if you decided to strike me with that baton? I’d like to see how fast it would take for them to spin this around and say that you were the one that attacked us, and it was a crime perpetrated by you."
The goon stared at Henry for a moment and then his hand snapped away from the baton. He looked back at the door for a few moments before turning back to Henry.
"I understand you're just following orders,” Henry said. “And I’m sorry that you had to walk all the way down here. But my associate and I won't be accompanying you to the roof."
Henry stood up from his chair, stared the goon straight in the eyes, and then nodded his head towards Lenny. "As you can clearly see, we're busy with these files, and we won't be going anywhere until we've spoken with Mr. Perkins himself. So go shuffle off to whomever you have to report to and make whatever phone calls you need to; because until we see Mr. Perkins, we're not budging an inch."
Henry’s response was not what the brute expected, and he had been caught completely off guard. Henry was certain by the slight flaring of the goon's nostrils that he was extremely irritated.
The goon retorted, pointing to Lenny, "You can't be that busy because he was sleeping."
Henry stood there smiling.
The goon took a threatening step forward with his hand clutching his baton again when the light on his comm came on. The man paused to listen to whoever was on the other end. Henry watched the man's face and could tell that he was getting an earful, regarding his actions towards Henry and Lenny.
Henry smiled at the goon, knowing he had won the exchange. "Is there something else you needed to tell us, or are you just here to waste our time?"
Smythe's goon must have decided to follow his orders because he tightened his lips and walked out of the room, banging the door behind him.
Lenny let out a slow and long whistle. "How the hell did you know that would work? Seriously, I'm impressed! That guy looked like he wanted to beat the hell out of you with that stun baton of his. Do you think Perkins is going to come down here and respond to your beacon call?"
Henry planted himself in his chair. "From here on out, we need to show Perkins and his men that we can't be pushed around. I believe Perkins is trying to save his ass and sees me as his final opportunity to save this mission and his job. I don't like him anymore than you do, but if they want me to go over there, then they sure as hell are going to give me what I need to complete this job even if it means that Perkins has to come down here himself and talk with us."
Henry clicked on one of the monitors on the wall and changed the channel to a local news station. "Not a single media outlet is reporting about the failed mission in Ireland, nor is anyone screaming for Union Forest's head for once again tempting fate with the Beast. Hell, they don't even know they've sent men over there. So what this tells me is that they are doing this covertly and through some sort of government manipulation."
Henry flipped through other channels and none of them reported the strange weather patterns in Ireland or the Union Forest mission.
Henry pushed a piece of paper along with a pencil across the table towards Lenny. "I want you to write down a list of tech equipment you need for this mission. I don't care what it is because we're going to make Union Forest dig deep into their pockets to make sure we get Rick out of there alive."
Lenny perked up at the idea of being able to request anything he needed. "What if I need something that, well, . . . isn't something that I . . . that I need for this mission?"
Henry smiled. "Write down what you need for the mission, and remember, I'm not a tech wizard like you. So there may be one or two things on that list that I won't understand. But I don't care." Henry winked at Lenny.
Lenny's face beamed as he caught on to Henry's meaning and furiously started to write down several things.
"Are you sure they're going to go for all of this?"
Henry nodded and spoke in a hushed and ruthless tone. "Yes. I found something, and I'm done playing this little game of theirs. Besides, if they don't, then our dear Mr. Perkins will have to go back to those Union Forest board members and report that they have lost another team, and more than likely, have lost their last chance at the data core."
The pencil in Lenny's hand slowed as Henry's words sank in. He raised his head dumbfounded. "Remind me to never piss you off in the future."
Henry smiled.
The door slammed open, knocking over an expensive vase, which shattered on the floor. Henry and Lenny quickly swiveled their heads around and found a red-faced Mr. Perkins at the door.
"How dare you demand that I come down here. I thought we had an—"
Henry held up his hand, stopping Mr. Perkins midsentence.
"Can you give us a moment please," Henry asked as he leaned over to talk with Lenny in hushed tones.
Mr. Perkins stammered, unsure how to handle the situation. Henry was sure Mr. Perkins had never received this type of reception before, and it infuriated him. Lenny handed a piece of paper to Henry, and the two of them whispere
d a few more things to each other. Perkins was flabbergasted and didn't know what to do.
Henry picked up a small stack of papers and walked across the room to stand in front of a thoroughly confused Mr. Perkins. "Thank you for coming down here on such short notice. I know you've been busy trying to contain this situation, and I'm sure coming down here must have been a great inconvenience on your part."
Henry's demeanor changed instantly from whimsical to serious when he addressed Mr. Perkins again. "It appears that you and your superiors no longer hold the upper hand in this negotiation."
Mr. Perkins began to speak but Henry waved him off.
"Yes, maybe at first you had the advantage because you knew what was going on. However, you made one incredibly large mistake when you sent Roger Smythe to apologize to us."
Henry walked over to the small fridge in the room, pulled out a bottle of water, and opened it. "You overplayed your hand, and that got me thinking."
Henry took a small sip of water from the bottle before continuing. "Yes, I know how someone that works security thinks. Before you say anything, I want you to know that I'm not all what I seem on paper. Unfortunately for you, you gave me access to your files, satellite images, camera feeds, notes, and more. I've reviewed everything you've given me multiple times, and guess what I found? . . . the Beast!"
Mr. Perkin’s eyes widened slightly, and a small bead of sweat formed on his graying brow, giving Henry all the proof he needed. He then waded in like a shark ready for the kill.
He thrust the papers in his hand into Mr. Perkin’s chest, wrinkling his finely pressed suit. "That's right. You see, I figured out how much you need me and my friend to save this little operation of yours. You've let a bull inside a china shop, and because you assholes are so arrogant, you believed you could control the bull. Well, the truth is, if you want this op of yours to succeed, then you better give me every damn thing on these lists."
Henry pointed at the papers in Mr. Perkins hands. "Once you get your lackeys started on that, you’ll arrange a private flight on the Union Forest supersonic jet to the Brest, France military port. I want to be in Brest within four hours. They’ll be able to help us when we get there. Know this, Perkins, if I'm not on my way in the next fifteen minutes, and we see that even a single item is missing from our list, then you can kiss your job goodbye, and know that I’ll hold you personally responsible if anything happens to Rick."
The Shadow Above The Flames Page 16