Angels of War (Angels of War Trilogy Book 1)

by Andre Roberts

  “Dammit, Black.” Wallace bolted up from his chair. “Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?”

  “Sir, we tried to confirm the reports. So many people fled the area. We considered the traffic a mass evacuation of locals. Instead, we discovered half the Black Army moving out, hidden amongst the fleeing civilians. We didn’t know.”

  President Wallace shot Joan a hard stare. “Did you foresee this happening? You’re an angel.”

  Heat flush underneath Joan’s brown skin as she held the man’s tired red eyes. “I didn’t.”

  General Black took a large envelope from a soldier. He opened the package and emptied the color photographs on the table. “The Air Force shot these by drone within the last few hours. The pictures display several thousand vehicles and people going in the same direction fleeing California.” He shifted a few photos around. “The unorganized mass broke up, either going north, or south to Texas. This one group right here kept a steady direction. East…right up our asses.”

  Joan studied the pictures. On each photograph, the convoy thinned out, certain others clustered together. In the last photo, the vehicles sat in neat convoy rows.

  President Wallace shook his head. “Heaven help us. I’m scheduled for a briefing. Black, take charge.”

  Frustrated, Joan turned on her heels, walked from Air Force One, and down the stairs to the hot tarmac. Military C130 cargo planes sat parked in several areas. Troops with duffle bags and backpacks departed from a few C130s.

  The angel crossed the tarmac. Heat waves shimmered and rose from the ground as she eased her way through the busy troops. Not far from the main area sat a huge hangar with its massive doors closed and Delta Force soldiers posted outside.

  Joan reached the hangar side door and the soldiers saluted her. She returned the salute. “Are the troops ready, sergeant?”

  “Ready, ma’am,” the sergeant said.

  Joan entered the hangar. Once inside, a strong voice called the Guardians to attention. The ten thousand troops took to their feet in unison inside the large air-conditioned hangar.

  “At ease,” Joan said.

  The troops relaxed and remained on their feet. Joan needed their faith to remain strong as they prepared both hearts and minds for battle.

  With a smile still on her face, Joan walked amongst the Guardians. She talked to groups and individuals alike. General Temeculus pulled a fast one and she believed a rat wallowed in their nest.

  “Rest up people, tomorrow we fight,” she said. Some smiled and nodded towards her, some cried, but no one complained about the new battle day.

  Joan spent five hours with the Guardians before she stepped outside into the sunlight. She chose to keep the soldiers hidden. The news media ached for live footage and pictures. A few perched on the outskirts near the airport with their super lens cameras. President Wallace allowed them this. But warned the reporters to expect their aircraft blown from the sky if they flew over the Guardians hangar.

  Joan focused on the fight ahead. Roaring jet engines reached her as more aircraft took off and landed in an almost constant stream. More troops arrived. They gathered outside the muster area, inside the airport terminal, and either worked or rested.

  Joan hiked around the airport until she found a quiet spot behind an old hangar with two pristine World War 2 Mustangs parked inside. She leaned her back against a wall and slid down until she sat on the concrete floor and crossed her legs.

  She considered herself strong enough to handle the stress and responsibility God placed on her. She never expected Armageddon to happen so soon. Such a necessary and hard spiritual experience with beautiful results remained God’s ultimate faith tester.

  Joan replayed the plane crash and her family’s death in her head. No matter how much she tried to put them aside, or how she tried to perceive their deaths as a small tragic experience compared to the entire picture, she fought with difficulty to detach herself from her two loves. And, from all the good memories they shared.

  She closed her eyes and realized their deaths cultivated the strength needed to tackle the problem she faced. She loved Charles and William. Shame washed over her at her foolish weakness for wanting to forget them to extinguish her pain. Her mind pictured the old cross in her office. The vision lingered along with the crash and flames in the Florida Everglades. Her son’s eyes, big and fearful, hung ghost like in her mind, accusatory, forcing her to strengthen her faith.

  She opened her eyes and took in the blue skies and the fat clouds outside the hangar. Her heart opened and strengthened inside her. Love shone with a golden light from outside her body. Her muscles hardened, her resolve toughened.

  The elusive faith she chased after rose and crystallized inside her like a gigantic diamond. Her mortal self and all the human frailties she once struggled with melted until her true angelic being came to a complete circle.

  Joan knelt to pray. She folded her hands together as a plump Cherub floated down from the skies and landed next to her. Its fat lips whispered a few words in her ear, frowned and floated towards the heavens.

  Joan gritted her teeth. She said a prayer and lifted her head towards the skies, heartbroken and distraught. Tears rolled down her brown cheeks, the betrayal whispered by the Cherub broke her heart.

  Joan stood. Her eyes scanned the Denver cityscape. The spires gleamed from the sunshine. Beyond Denver, the lofty Rocky Mountains sat high against the crystal blue sky. Two weeks ago, people within the city lived ordinary lives and they would return to live ordinary lives again. She stretched her wings, took two steps, and flew towards the city.

  Joan landed on a street near Mile High Stadium minutes after she left the hangar. Joy pulsed through her at how many locals decided to stay and defend their homes. Urgency held the air. Citizens and soldiers placed sandbags and concrete barricades around buildings and houses.

  Joan arrived to the stadium after she surveyed the defenses and found them strong and good. She entered the tactical operations center located in a large theater like conference room. The place boiled with frantic activity. She used her telepathy to call her angels to meet her.

  Joan smiled as Maria worked her way through the crowded front entrance. She approached Joan as the other angels began to filter into the center.

  “Joan, I’m here,” Maria said.

  “Thanks for getting here so fast. Temeculus is on his way.”

  “What now?”

  Joan spotted Juggernaut, Daisy Lane, Owen, and Okura enter the crowded theater and walk towards her. “Once everyone is together, Maria.”

  Maria stood close to Joan. “I need to talk to you later.”

  Joan picked up on Maria’s shaky voice. “Okay.” Joan discerned what bothered Maria, even before the angel told her.

  57

  Once President Wallace entered the building, the entire theater fell silent and everyone stood. He shooed away his security detail and settled himself at the round table. Displayed on the screen behind him sat a computer generated map of Colorado complete with troop positions. He removed his black suit jacket, loosened his tie, unbuttoned his top collar, and rolled his shirtsleeves to the elbows. “Give me what you got, General Black?”

  General Black seized a laser pointer from the table. “Everyone take your seats.” The crowd sat. “Scouts are in their sectors along the Rocky Mountains and further west into the plains.” The picture on the huge screen changed to display Denver.

  “The enemy must enter the city through this corridor in an attempt at a direct attack. We set up several kill zones to whittle the human forces down. The Guardians will take on the Black Army undead Romans. We fielded enough soldiers to push back Temeculus’s forces and retake Los Angeles.”

  Joan absorbed the information with a divided mind. The rest concerned hospital positions, gun emplacements and reinforcements. She glanced over at Maria and the two went outside where the skies turned a dark red from the late afternoon sun.

  “What’s wrong, Maria?”

  M
aria stared west where the sun began to lower for the day. The entire western sky washed in deep blood red and black, like a dead body after battle. “Okura is the problem, Joan.”

  “Why?” Joan became aware of Okura’s betrayal hours ago. She needed confirmation from someone on the ground and not in Heaven’s eternal bliss.

  “Since arriving from Hell’s Cathedral he’s been questioning our ability to win this fight. I’m uncomfortable with his attitude.”

  “We’ll keep an eye on him.”

  Maria bit her bottom lip. “Okura’s anger seems deeper, Joan. As if he hates what we are doing. I don’t think he appreciated leaving his family, I don’t think he understands this entire war.”

  Joan fought to keep her memories at bay. “He understands,” she said. “Watching him during the battle will be difficult.”

  “True.”

  “Where’s the Key?”

  “She’s locked in a safe at one of the local banks and guarded in case regular forces breach our defenses.”

  “Maria, grab Juggernaut, I’ll show you two where the door is located in the event something happens to me.” She paused in thought. “Okura is with the archers now and I will split my cavalry with Owen. Okura won’t be involved in the hard fighting. Daisy is keeping him busy with the defensive setup of the city.”

  Maria nodded. “I’ll try keeping an eye on him when the fighting starts. I’ll get Juggernaut,” she said and dipped back into the theater.

  Joan waited until the Marine walked outside the theater with Maria at his side. “Both of you change into your armor. We’re going to take a short flight.”

  The three angels flew southwest from Denver. The city dropped away from their feet as they climbed high into the air. Lights blinked out in large sections within Denver. Someone turned off the power grid, good idea she thought. The military brought their own power with them, enough to run two Denver sized cities.

  The mountain range darkened on the eastern side. The west however, blazed in a fiery red. The sun perched above the horizon began to sink, hauling daylight into the dark depths of night.

  The angels winged their way outside the city limits and dove towards the Rockies. Below them sat an amphitheater cut from red stone and shrouded in semi darkness. The two followed Joan as she approached the stage and landed.

  Joan closed her eyes and inhaled the air scented with spruce. She opened her eyes to take in the two colossal red rock pillars. Both stood three hundred feet tall, one perched to their left and the other on their right. The pillars jutted from the earth like guardians to protect the stage located between their sandstone bodies.

  The amphitheater seats, carved from sandstone, swept up to form a half bowl around the stage near the two monoliths. The theater reminded her of when she studied in Greece, attending Epictetus’s lectures.

  Joan turned to the two angels who stood enraptured by the beautiful rocks. “Okura. He told Temeculus we are not done training, one of our spies informed me.” She recalled the Cherub’s sweet breath against her ear.

  Juggernaut gritted his white teeth. “What made him turn?”

  Joan shook her head. “I’m not sure. But I think I can turn him back.”

  Maria’s pretty lips turned down into a scowl. “Why? He’s cost us too much, Joan. He should suffer.”

  “I can’t judge him, Maria. I can only save him. I do not want to lose him. We can’t afford to lose anyone.”

  Juggernaut’s right hand, thick with muscle and lined with veins, toyed with the hilt on his sword. He faced the dimming starless skies. “We need to do something with him. I came close to cutting him down this morning.”

  Maria’s face tightened. “We can’t trust him, Joan. What if he tries to kill you?”

  Joan’s brown eyes settled on the sun. The star slipped behind the jagged mountains, weak red light played along the horizon for a few seconds and winked out. “He’s my responsibility. I’ll deal with whatever he does.”

  Juggernaut shoulders sagged. “Okay, Joan, but if he endangers us…”

  “…I’ll kill him myself,” she said with ice in her voice and glared at the massive angel who dropped his eyes to the ground.

  “Okay.”

  “Now back to business.” Joan pointed at the stage with a steady finger. “This place is called the Garden of Angels. Ages ago angels once lived with humans. Both would gather here to enjoy themselves. The two stone pillars here, are centuries worn statues of angels.”

  Joan mounted the sandstone steps to the stage. She drew her gladius. The fine edge sparkled in a quick ripple. She pointed the tip towards the flat sandstone and drove her gladius into the smooth rock at her feet. The ground rumbled underneath. The flat rock cracked, chunks broke off and tumbled downward into the dark hole the angel created with her weapon.

  “When Satan and the other fallen angels fled to earth, they remembered this place and entered Hell through here,” she said and lifted her sword from the ground. She waited for the earth to stop its quake. She took cautious steps towards the steep edge.

  Maria seized her blade hilt. Juggernaut slid his silver weapon from its sheath. Both angels approached the dark ledge.

  Joan’s nostrils flared. “Smell that?”

  Juggernaut set his jaw. “Sulfur,” he said.

  Joan stepped forward and tested the weakened ground with her feet. Her angelic sight lit the world below. Steps sat twenty feet down the crack she made in the earth. “Below us, the steps to Hell,” she said.

  Excitement bubbled up in Joan’s voice. Her eyes widened, the pupils turned silver. She stared back at her two warriors.

  Maria knitted her eyebrows. “Are you alright, Joan?”

  Joan smiled. “They can’t escape unless the Key sings the proper notes to open the gate,” she said and pointed her sword at the old broken steps hidden beyond their sight. “They can throw their worthless bodies against those magnificent doors for all eternity, and they will never open.”

  Juggernaut took a deep breath. “The world is so ancient and alien below, the stench of sulfur is centuries old.”

  “I agree, Juggernaut,” Joan said.

  Maria flicked her eyes to Joan. “I think we should go, Joan. We need to get ready for the morning,” she said.

  The night sky darkened to a flat black. The foul sulfur made Joan’s stomach ache. Shadows from trees and branches stretched over the three like broken fingers. A heavy silence filled the area, not even an owl’s hoot echoed against the crags and stony drops.

  Joan lowered her blade. “Let’s leave this place. Pray tonight my dear angels. Tomorrow will be a special day, a day destined to test us all.”

  58

  Joan sat in the silent War Center located in Mile High stadium where she drank hot coffee in a green mug with the words infantry stenciled on the side in capital letters. The place carried a pre-dawn Greyhound bus station atmosphere. A few soldiers milled about and checked the digital map upon the wall.

  The Black Army crawled along Route I-70 depicted as red blips headed towards the Rocky Mountains. Outside the center, and under a black starless night, soldiers continued to prepare for battle.

  The angel reclined in a comfortable seat above the activities below her. She gazed at the map in detachment. She tried to capture some alone time before the actual fight. Her mind swirled from one subject to another. She needed the troops confident. Their worried whispers echoed into the night, despite her orders for them to get some sleep. A few slept in peace while others did not.

  General Perkins sauntered into the room, glanced at the huge digital map on the far wall. He surveyed the theater with his hard brown eyes. The tall slender man with thick gray hair spotted Joan reclined above the War Center.

  Perkins set his jaw and climbed the stairs in twos as he approached Joan. He took a seat, one removed from her. He remained silent for a few minutes. His eyes gazed over the big map, his long slender arms relaxed on the armrests as the enemy advanced.

  General Perkins
laced his fingers together. “They should be here by sunup, don’t you agree?”

  Joan nodded, sipped her coffee. She decided to read Perkins’s mind and did. “You believe we will win, but you don’t believe in God.”

  The general hunched his slender shoulders. “I believe in this great country, Joan, and I will defend the United States to the utmost of my ability. As for God, I believe in Him, yet I don’t like Him either.” He made a fist and relaxed the hand. “Don’t get me wrong, Joan. I don’t love the devil either, he can kiss my narrow white ass along with those other bastards in Hell,” he said.

  Joan slid her eyes towards the general. “I guess your opinion holds?”

  General Perkins lifted his chin, his large Adam’s apple bobbed. “I lost my daughter in 9/11, Joan. Others lived and she didn’t.” Perkins shook his head. “A gifted girl beyond the word, a beautiful girl. Played piano, painted, owned a business.”

  Perkins stared at his folded hands, parted his lips to display white teeth. “He took her from me.” Perkins glanced towards the ceiling. “So I made a point to kill everything on this planet going against this country.”

  “The war isn’t about this country, this is about the world.”

  Perkins smiled. “Yea, well, I keep hearing those words from the U.N.” He managed a short laugh, returned Joan’s stare. “But if we fall, what do you think everyone else is going to do?”

  Joan nodded and turned to the screen. The attacking army jumped five miles, next twenty. Temeculus decided to speed up their travel. She blinked, Perkins groaned next to her. “Yea, Satan is hard at work.”

  Perkins shifted in his seat, his eyes narrowed. The workers below became busy. “This place is gonna get hot real soon, Joan.”

  Joan drained her coffee, sat the mug in the cup holder next to her. “I hope you change your mind, General Perkins.” She needed to check the armor and get the angels ready. And, feed the troops their pre-battle steak and eggs breakfast. Joan rose from her seat.