by J. T. Lewis
Holding my hand out to stop her, I then held up one finger before pointing up towards Jones’ position.
She nodded in understanding and crouched down in the doorway, pointing my gun up in the general direction of Jones’ position.
“Yep!” I replied, again getting ready to move, “Two friends of mine actually. After you had their husbands killed, they took it upon themselves to root you out. They couldn’t believe how easy it was!”
“That’s bullshit and you know it!” he screamed.
It was now or never!
Jumping up with an unexpected moan and headed quickly toward the stairway. I felt before I heard the bullet hit the floor behind me.
That’s nine!
I limped as fast as I could up the stairs, hearing a crashing noise somewhere in the distance. Looking up, I saw Jones straddling the top of the stairway, gun steadied at me.
“Freeze asshole!” It was Nate’s voice. I could see him standing right behind Jones now, gun pointing to the back of his head. “You’re under arrest!”
Without looking back, Jones swung his right arm behind him in a flash, landing the butt of the gun in his hand on Nate’s temple. Nate dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Lining the sights of the gun up at me again with a grin, I could only hope I had counted right!
***
I ran up the stairs with all the speed I could muster, hearing the click of the hammer of the gun as I neared the top. Actually surprised that the gun was empty, he threw it at me and ran across the loft with me in close pursuit.
Reaching the other end of the loft, he reached up and pulled down another sword off the wall, a confident smile now crossing his lips as he stood there naked with the sword pointed toward me.
“I may not be much with firearms,” he said evenly, swishing the sword in a quick circle, “But I dare say I can best you in swordplay!”
“Gabe?” I heard behind me. Turning my head, I kept the short sword aimed at Jones.
It was Preacher, gun in hand and aimed at Jones. Abby was scrambling up the steps to his right.
Beep!
Shit!
“I need you guys to disable his bomb! Go...I got this!”
Preacher looked confused. Taking control, Abby grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back out the door that he had just entered from, both of them having to step over Nate who lay unconscious across the doorway.
Looking back at Jones, I braced myself as I saw him approaching me with a gleam in his eye.
“This is really going to hurt Celtic!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another rack of swords. Reaching over quickly, I grabbed another one off the rack with my left hand.
“Ah, good, that will make it a little more challenging for me…not that it will do you any good!”
With that, he skipped effortlessly toward me, slashing at me effortlessly as I scrambled to block his moves.
“Good effort Celtic!” he smiled, stepping back once more. “But you are an amateur through and through. Why don’t you let me kill you quick and avoid all of the pain I have planned for you?”
“Why don’t you get some clothes on?” I asked with a sneer of my own. “I hate slicing up naked people.”
Laughing heartily at my statement, he moved in quickly once more, his sword almost invisible as it swished through the air.
Blocking his first thrust with the sword in my left hand, I jabbed at him with the one in my right.
He flicked it away effortlessly before thrusting at me once again.
I stepped back, my leg throbbing as I noticed it was now bleeding profusely.
“Your leg is the last thing you will worry about soon Celtic. That is but a scratch!”
Thrusting forward at me again, I twisted sideways as I blocked his sword with my left, falling to the right in the process. As a last ditch effort before I hit the floor, I struck out with the short sword in my right hand, nicking his wrist with a glancing blow.
It was enough.
Howling in pain again, he dropped his sword and held the wound with his left hand, his eyes wide in hatred. As I slowly stood, he suddenly ran to the back wall again, pulling down an antique flintlock with his left hand. Turning toward me again, he cocked the weapon as he worked his way down the loft’s railing toward me.
“Enough!” he shouted. “You will rue the day that you crossed Jacques LaFonteyn!”
I started running toward him, not knowing what else to do except attack!
Yelling for all I was worth, I held the sword out in front of me, hoping to run him through before he killed me with the ancient weapon.
He was yelling too, his eyes showing unveiled hatred as he took aim on my approaching body!
Wrapping my other hand around the sword as I ran, I took the last step toward him as the gun exploded in my ear.
I crashed into him with the force of a full run, both of us smashing through the railing in a hail of screams, floating through the air until the floor stopped our progress…and our yells.
The air knocked out of me, I rolled off the body under me as the blackness closed in on my vision. Pain wracked my body as my mind pleaded for more oxygen to no avail. Before the end, the blackness now complete, I heard just one noise in the silence around me before my eyes closed for the last time.
BEEP!...
Epilogue
September 30, 1999
I awoke with a start!
Groggily, I glanced around, realizing that I had spent the night on the couch. The pain pills they had given me in the emergency room were apparently quite good.
I leaned my head back and brought my arm up to cover my eyes, bonking my head with the cast in the process. Staring at it, I remembered the fall from the night before, the fall that had finally killed Jacques LaFonteyn.
Moving slightly, I yelped from another pain, this one in my leg. Glancing quickly over to the fireplace, I saw the short Japanese Tanto sword leaning against the hearth where I had left it. Abby had filled me in on what it was called when I had asked her to get it for me before they carried me away in the ambulance.
Knowing that it was evidence in the case, Abby had nevertheless spirited it away without being seen.
I had a bad influence on that girl.
I felt slightly guilty for stealing evidence from a crime scene, but I seemed to have the need to take it. After all, LaFonteyn had nearly sliced my leg off with it early in the fight, not to mention threatening Abby’s life as he held it against her neck.
But in the end, it was in my hand as we went over the railing!
Remembering the shot before I fell, I reached up to my left ear, feeling the bandage where LaFonteyn’s shot had taken off my earlobe.
Abby and Preacher had finally found the hidden explosives at the entrance to the underground part of the house. Acting quickly, Preacher had whipped the stiletto out of his Bible, deftly slashing through the wires with only three seconds to spare!
Trying to get comfortable again, I gave some thought to the night before, and of course what I had to do today.
Abby had called May from the emergency room, letting her know in general terms what had transpired. Asking her to relay the message to Raven, she had promised that we would meet and bring them up to speed today.
I had every intention of making that meeting, although with the way I was feeling at the moment, I was hoping we could put it off for a few more hours.
Thinking about my two old friends gave me a warm feeling that I was still uncomfortable with. Raven of course had declared her intentions for me, and she was certainly a sensuous woman. But Preacher’s roundabout reasoning yesterday had made me realize that Raven and I could never be happy as a couple, although I now relished our renewed friendship.
And then there was May. Since she had been working with us on the case, we had rekindled our old friendship even more than I had with Raven. Memories of our closeness from when I was younger flashed in my mind, bringing a smile to my face.
&n
bsp; I shook off these juvenile thoughts as memories of Betty flooded into my mind, an overwhelming sadness coming to the surface for an instant. As a tear made its way down my face, I mumbled her name out loud.
“Betty!”
I must have dozed off again before a knock on the door jerked me back to wakefulness. Rolling off of the couch, I found that I could hardly walk, bumping the end table and breaking a lamp as it hit the floor.
“Dammit!”
I decided to worry about it later as I slowly made my way to the door.
Who the hell would be knocking at my door at this hour? I wondered as I looked up at the clock.
I was surprised to see that it was actually 10:30, and that I had been asleep for nine hours.
“Coming!” I yelled as I continued to make my way toward the door. It seemed to be taking forever to get there.
Finally at the door, I fumbled at the locks with my left hand. Getting everything released, I swung the door open…a little too hard it turned out as it banged against the wall.
“Help you?” I questioned while rubbing the sting of sleep out of my eyes.
There must have been two people out there I decided, hearing one of them mumbling to the other.
“It is a pleasure to see you again my dear boy!”
I stopped rubbing my eyes at the sound of the voice. Although it was indeed familiar, my befuddled mind was taking its time in recognizing it. The day was bright outside, so I kept my eyes covered for a few more moments before finally lowering my hand and squinting into the brightness.
Making out only the silhouette of two men standing on the porch, the short and round stature of the man on the right struck an instantaneous recognition in my mind.
“Julien?” I asked with surprise. Why would my old friend and mentor from my time in Peru be here on my stoop?
“It is indeed Gabriel! May we come in?”
My muddled mind was still wrapped in confusion as I dumbly stared at the men. Finally I realized what he had asked me and stepped aside.
“Of course, of course, come in…please!” I said with embarrassment.
Julien entered with another man. Thin and dark haired, this man seemed unsure if he really wanted to be here as he stepped over the threshold. Closing the door behind them, I turned and was met by Julien with his hand extended toward me.
“I must say, you look much worse for wear than the last time we parted my dear boy.”
Taking the professor’s hand with my left one, the familiarity of our greeting brought me closer to fully awake.
“We just finished a case yesterday Julien. As you can see, I didn’t escape it unscathed.”
“Indeed!” Julien exclaimed, “I do hope the other man is at least in comparable shape?”
I shook my head, “He didn’t make it…but it was no great loss to mankind, believe me.”
Suddenly realizing my manners, I held my hand out to the table.
“Please, come in, have a seat. Would you like some coffee?”
“Tea for me,” the thinner man said almost rudely.
“Gabriel,” the professor interjected quickly, “The cantankerous man on my left is Dr. Franklin Buff. Besides having inexcusably poor manners, he is best known as a crack Archeologist. In point of fact, if not for a recent discovery of his, I would not be here now.”
I made my way to the sink, filling both the coffee maker and the tea kettle with water and turning them on. Making my way back to the table, I sat down facing my guests.
“Really,” I stated blankly, expecting another of the professor’s long drawn-out stories.
“Indeed,” Julien continued, “On a recent dig in Samaria…well…ancient Samaria anyway, he came across a scroll. It is a very intriguing scroll, Gabriel, as well as worrisome.”
“Worrisome?” I asked offhandedly as I stood and pulled some mugs out of the cupboard.
“How so?”
“It involves predictions Mr. Celtic,” Franklin Buff interjected, “End of days predictions to be exact.”
“Interesting,” I replied halfheartedly, still busying myself with the preparations. As I brought a sugar bowl and a plastic milk jug to the table, I noticed the distasteful scow on Dr. Buff’s face.
I easily ignored it.
“Extremely!” Julien added excitedly. “After weeks of studying this scroll my boy, it is my considered opinion that it points to a savior of sorts. It points to you Gabriel!”
The shock of his words caused me to overflow the coffee cup I was pouring. Catching myself, I pulled off some paper towels and threw them over the spill on the floor.
I turned and stared at the men with disbelief.
“It does what?” I asked incredulously, “It points to me?”
What kind of ridiculous theory was this?
“We are not of one thought on this mind you,” the professor admitted.
“Absolutely not!” the dour Franklin Buff interjected with disgust.
The professor eyed him momentarily before turning his attention back toward me.
“For my part however, I believe that it does indeed point to you Gabriel.”
I stood there quietly, mulling over what I had just heard. Slowly a smile crossed my lips as the extreme unlikelihood of an ancient scroll talking about me triggered humor in my mind.
“Really gentlemen, you’ve come all this way to tell me this?” I asked grinning.
“Just what is it that I’m supposed to do Julien?”
“Why…you’re to save the world my boy, you are to save the world!”
Copyright 2013 by JT Lewis
(1) Gabriel’s Revenge by J.T. Lewis
(2) Murder! Too Close To Home by J.T. Lewis
(3) The Abduction by J.T. Lewis
(4) The Journal by J.T. Lewis
(5) Betty by J.T. Lewis
I hope you enjoyed reading In Case of Death, the third in the Adventures of Gabriel Celtic series.
Although it is never required, I do hope that you will take the time to offer an honest review at the place of purchase of this book, or at Goodreads.com. Reviews, both good and bad, are what bring an author’s book to the attention of the world, and the opinion of our readers is important feedback to our writing.
Thanks again for reading In Case of Death.
Now enjoy a preview of the forthcoming epic novel, The Book of Gabriel, the newest of The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic.
“I would call this story a speculative Christian action/adventure, with a good dose of mystery sprinkled in. I know one thing though…it will make you squirm in your seat!”
Available spring of 2014!
Prologue
October 1, 1999
Hank
Hank Jeffers released the trigger on his hammer drill.
“What the hell?” he thought to himself as he looked down at his feet. Having felt a sudden numbing sensation at his toes, he was shocked to see a halo of blue energy now moving slowly up his legs.
Frantic with fear, he let out a scream…but the sound was lost in the relatively soft walls of the Illinois coal mine that surrounded him.
At his knees now, the blue energy was making its way slowly up his body, his legs feeling like lead smelted into the stone below his feet.
Screaming again in frustration, his panic seemed to be pushing its way up his body ahead of the ring, threatening to cram itself into his head and ultimately bursting it with the added pressure.
But that didn’t happen.
His eyes glazed over as the ring of light reached his neck, his consciousness terminated as the energy entered him fully. Had anyone been there to observe the encounter, they would have seen Hank standing as still as the rocks surrounding him, with only a few telltale tics here and there as the energy plugged itself into each cell.
A sudden ragged breath now entered his lungs, followed by another score or more as his body reacted to the last ninety seconds without air.
“Somebitch,” Hank exclaimed breathlessly as he opened his e
yes.
The beautiful blue eyes, the ones that had always made the women swoon at the bar on his night off…they had changed.
Barely noticeable, an orange ring now surrounded the iris.
Of course Hank wasn’t aware of this change. He was aware however, of an overriding need to leave the confines of his underground hole and find his car. He had somewhere to go, and although he knew not of the location, he was now determined to get there.
Reaching down, Hank grasped the handle of a small pickax, the comforting feel of the well-worn wood reassuring in his hand.
Standing straight up then, the orange ring in his eyes suddenly flashed brightly, momentarily enveloping the surrounding darkness. A smile crawled across his lips as he shouldered the pick and started to saunter out of the mine.
The confidence in him now surged through his veins, his steps springy with the anticipation of it all.
Chapter I
October 1, 1999
“In the year of the second millennium, in the new lands to the west...”
The two men rode silently in the back of the cab, their eyes sharing the hollow look of long travel mixed with quiet uncertainty.
“Will he do it?” the thinner of the men asked nervously for the tenth time since leaving the airport.
“He will do it,” the heavier of the two sighed, his patience wearing thin with the other man. “Not without some convincing however, of that I am certain. But he has the fortitude needed for the task my old friend, he has gargantuan proportions of it. The only thing he may be lacking in…is faith. Once we persuade him of the need, the faith will follow. I have an unwavering confidence in him.”
“I wish I could share in your confidence,” the other man mumbled while wiping his face with a handkerchief. “The stakes are also gargantuan! Why would someone like him be the one chosen? From what you have told me, he has done nothing in his life that would prepare him for this.”
Waving his hand wildly at the houses passing the cab, “Outside of this Podunk little town, he is a virtual unknown,” he yelled. “He has done nothing on a worldly scale!”