DARK VISIONS

by James Byron Huggins

  Jodi dropped to a knee, spinning again, and swept the room firing until the slide locked. She didn’t try to make sense out of who was firing at her; she changed clips and returned fire at any muzzle blast she sensed or saw.

  Some instinct made Jodi turn, and she saw Marvin racing along the outer edge of the monument with M61s in each hand and he dropped one moving fast but before it exploded she knew he dropped another one, and still Marvin flew along the edge dropping another and another and another and another before diving behind a pillar. With a wild cry Jodi pulled Tommy tight into her chest and swung her back to the grenades.

  Six near-simultaneous explosions detonated along the far edge of Stonehenge where a hundred priests were rushing forward; it was a cataclysmic event, but Jodi wasn’t watching. She was bent tight over Tommy, both arms holding him hard against her chest, and although Jodi didn’t see the carnage she felt the sonic impact as it rolled over her – a physical wave of fire and force that would have blown her from her feet if she’d been standing.

  Get down!” bellowed Marvin.

  Jodi fell flat across Tommy as the explosion of a stun grenade lit up the space not more than six feet behind her with mushrooming fire, and priests staggered across the circle screaming and howling, their robes aflame, leaving scarlet ribbons in their wake.

  Breathless, Jodi gasped, “God help us!”

  Two figures staggered into the circle, and Jodi saw that a gigantic Druid had grabbed Joe Mac by the throat and they were locked in a contest of brute strength. The Druid had both hands wrapped tight around Joe Mac’s neck as Joe Mac drew another .45 from his cloak; he placed the barrel flat against the man’s chest and pulled the trigger.

  In an explosion of flesh and blood the Druid fell back.

  Jodi heard Brightbarton bellow in agony, and then she saw Marvin running forward from the far side of the monument. He leaped to hit the Bloodstone, leaping even higher from that, and came down on a half-dozen Druids who were slashing wildly at the captain. But as Marvin landed he fired the M-4 into one, two, three Druids and then a fourth priest as they all whirled with knives rising.

  Standing coldly in place, Marvin simply raised a hand holding an M61 grenade. With a frown, he released the lever.

  Shouting wildly, the priests scattered.

  Marvin hurled the M61 grenade after them and grabbed Brightbarton before twisting to throw both their bodies to the floor; the stunning explosion sent arms and legs spinning across the smoking air.

  Jodi was so deafened, stunned, and off-balance from the condensed concussions of the grenades that she could hardly stand.

  She rose but staggered wildly to the side.

  Marvin was suddenly there and caught her. Then he stooped to pick up Tommy before thrusting the boy into Jodi’s arms.

  He was in her face; “Stay close to me!”

  Cradling Tommy, Jodi followed, her gun hand extended. She swung her whole body at once as gunshots erupted to her left and she emptied the clip; she saw three priests fall back, weapons clattering to the stone floor.

  “Wait!” Marvin yelled as he held up a hand. “I have to get Joe!”

  She screamed, “Go!”

  Marvin was gone as quick as something hit Jodi hard in the back and she went sprawling on her face, Tommy cascading beside her. She didn’t know what hit her – a bullet, a knife, a fist – but she rose with her hand tight on the Glock.

  As she reached a knee she turned to see a Druid on top of her with a shotgun but he had her cold; she couldn’t acquire aim and fire before he pulled the trigger. Then he was hurled through the air by something that hit him in the back so that he came down on the ground beside her. She raised her eyes to see Brightbarton frowning down, the M-4 smoking.

  “These punks ain’t that tough!” Brightbarton sneered. “Get up, kid!”

  Suddenly Marvin returned dragging Joe Mac and shouting over the colliding sounds of gunfire and wounded screaming. He dropped beside Jodi and hauled her hard to her feet; “Jodi we gotta get outta here now!”

  A Druid leaped on Marvin’s back and they staggered forward.

  Marvin spun and surged backward smashing the Druid into a pylon. The Druid’s grasp was weakened, and in the next split-second Marvin spun placing the barrel of the M-4 against his chest; Marvin fired the full clip into the black robe that was immediately transformed into a ragged shroud of red. Then he ripped out two grenades and hurled them outside the pillars along the path Jodi knew they had to take; the blinding twin explosions lit the entire cavern from end to end in billowing shades of fire.

  Marvin turned to Jodi bellowing, “They’re blind! Come on!”

  She didn’t need any incentive.

  Her only priority was getting out of this place with Tommy Childers alive in her arms. As they rushed through the crowd, Marvin threw another grenade every twenty feet like a man might throw rocks to scatter dogs. Jodi simply stayed as close as possible while trusting him to identify anyone targeting them.

  They surged forward and the one thing that should have been an advantage for the Druids – their superiority of numbers – was turning out to be their disadvantage because they couldn’t gain a clear shot without hitting one of their own; the priests continued to surge back and forth across the chamber clearly in a panic as Marvin led Jodi with an unerring and remarkable sense of direction toward the tunnel.

  Suddenly Brightbarton surged from a wall of colliding priests with the M-4, blasting apart anyone who raised a weapon.

  “What are you waiting for!” Brightbarton roared. “Get out of here!”

  With Brightbarton leading the way emptying clip after clip they rapidly gained steps on the tunnel. Then Joe Mac bellowed and was smashed to the floor on his face. At the sound of the shot Brightbarton turned and swept an entire line of Druids, blasting them up and back or spinning them into the wall. After that he reached down and hauled Joe Mac to his feet shouting at him to move-move-move!

  Marvin suddenly jumped back with a shout and Jodi knew he’d been hit. Rising from his knees, Marvin hurled the M-4 aside and drew both .45s, instantly firing. He glared over his shoulder, “Stay with me!”

  Something caught Jodi’s attention and she spun.

  In the waving torch light she saw dozens of the dark priests rushing into tunnels that she hadn’t noticed until now. Some had clearly chosen self-preservation over valor and Jodi sensed that those unknown exits would put them outside far faster than their own escape route.

  Joe Mac had been right; the priests would be waiting for them with rifle fire if they ever reached that now-faraway graveyard.

  “They’ll cut us to pieces,” she whispered.

  She heard Marvin shouting at her and clutched Tommy tighter as she turned again into their escape. Although Jodi couldn’t see the entrance to the tunnel in the confusion of rushing bodies and the blinding staccato light of gunshots she knew they had to be close. Then something stood before them; she sensed it before she could identify it …

  Then she knew what it was … and her heart sank.

  At least sixty of the more self-possessed Druids had formed a firing line between them and the tunnel and were vengefully raising rifles.

  Jodi grimaced in pain for all of them; they had fought so hard against so many; it was so tragic it was going to end like this.

  Marvin angrily snatched two M61 grenades from his waist and hurled both; the grenades landed dead-center of the line and exploded to howls and screams. Then they were rushing forward again as Marvin snatched the .45s from his belt and began firing. But, Jodi realized, there were so many; if Marvin killed one with every shot he’d run out of bullets before they ran out of men; Jodi clutched Tommy tighter, bowing her head.

  And then she heard something …

  … Coming …

  It wasn’t the rushing of wind that made Jodi suddenly focus on the tunnel. It wasn�
�t the rolling thunder of explosions. And it wasn’t the rising, howling tide of the wounding and dying that thickened the subterranean darkness like cold blood in dirt.

  “Poe,” she whispered.

  Suddenly the granite corridor behind the implacable firing squad vanished in a living darkness that rose above the Druids and dove into them with screams and shrieks and struck like the Hammer of God.

  Instantly the Druids whirled erupting with howls and screams and began firing wildly into the air. One began bellowing like a man on fire as he charged across the cavern shooting blindly at a hundred crows that were tearing him apart with murderous savagery and horrifying determination. And the others – those who attempted to stand their ground – were staggering first this way and then that as the ravens rose and fell diving again and again to tear their masks into bloody shreds and rip robes into ragged strips.

  Joe Mac shouted, “Go straight through ‘em!”

  Marvin and Brightbarton hesitated as Jodi whirled and screamed.

  “COME ON!”

  They ran enclosing Tommy Childers in a fluid box formed with their own bodies and then they collided with the swirling, screaming cordon of Druids. At the impact they began shooting Druids seemingly at random but they were simply killing whoever was closest. Jodi kept waiting for the first talon or beak to slash her head or face not believing the ravens would be able to differentiate friend from foe in the howling cloud of blood but the attack never came and then they reached the tunnel.

  At the entrance, Marvin turned and threw three more M61 grenades into the disintegrating block that had been so determined to prevent their escape, and although Jodi heard the explosions, she didn’t look back to measure the damage.

  She knew it was devastating; that was enough.

  “Run-Run-Run!” Brightbarton was shouting. “Keep running!”

  They fled down the tunnel together and then Marvin caught up to Jodi and tore Tommy Childers from her arms.

  “Give him to me!” Marvin gasped. “Keep moving!”

  The long run up that tunnel was the greatest labor of Jodi’s life but she was so fired with blood and sweat and adrenaline that she wasn’t even aware of how dead her body had become until they approached the exit. Then they were through the open door of the sarcophagus and into the cold air of the tomb.

  This is where we die …

  She knew there would be fifty priests in the forest before them, and they’d be cut to pieces by rifle fire long before they could reach safety.

  Shots erupted in the trees.

  All of them fell to the floor of the tomb as rapid gunfire continued in the wood line and beyond. Then the shooting began to move away from the crypt as eight tall figures wearing military BDUs and holding automatic weapons rushed inside. One man knelt beside Marvin and shone a light on his chest. The man spoke sternly into a microphone at his collar, “SR-2! We’re in the tomb! I need EMTs Code Three! I’ve got multiple shooting victims!”

  Rising on a single arm, Marvin coughed violently; “Jodi! Are you all right!”

  “Yeah!” she gasped. “I think so! … Are you?”

  “I don’t know,” he shook his head.

  “Both of you stay calm,” the SWAT leader said. “EMTs will be here in a second. We’ve got to secure the woods first.”

  Only then did Jodi finally realize that it was the New York City SWAT guys, and they were rapidly securing the graveyard and forest. Her mind was on autopilot as she turned her face to Brightbarton, gasping, “What! I thought you said that we didn’t have any –”

  “Joe cooked it up,” Brightbarton groaned. “He told me he knows who sold us out. And it wasn’t Rollins … and it wasn’t no cop …”

  Jodi grimaced, “But you guys were talking about how we wouldn’t have any backup when we got to this graveyard!”

  “Joe cooked that up, too …”

  “Why?”

  Brightbarton only shook and bowed his head.

  Vomiting blood, Joe Mac staggered out of the tunnel. His chest was soaked black and Jodi saw three bullet holes cut through his vest. Joe Mac angrily ripped down the Velcro straps, hauled off the armor, and flung it against the wall.

  He gasped, “Give me that cell phone!”

  It took Jodi a moment to orient. Then she snatched out the cell phone and placed it in his hand. Joe Mac raised his face and nodded at EMTs rushing into the tomb hauling two gurneys; the EMTs instantly lit up the crypt with flashlights and lamps as they began stabilizing Marvin and Brightbarton.

  With a groan, Joe pushed off the wall and impatiently waved away attempts to tend to his injuries, although Jodi saw he was gravely wounded; he staggered to the door clutching a .45 in a bloody fist.

  “Joe!” she cried. “You’re hit! What are you doing!”

  Covered in blood, Joe Mac paused in the door of the tomb and slowly turned his head. “You’re a good kid,” he smiled, and nodded. “You’re gonna be all right …”

  He was gone.

  Jodi whirled to Brightbarton. “Where’s he going!”

  “He’s going after whoever did this,” Brightbarton groaned.

  “Who is that?”

  “I don’t know … I don’t know …”

  Jodi lifted Tommy Childers from the floor and set him gently on a gurney before surrendering him to even more EMTs who rushed into the tomb. After that she stepped back and let the technicians do their work to stabilize wounds. She held Marvin’s hand tight as they began slamming bandages onto numerous bullet wounds that had ripped him up head to foot. She didn’t count the shots; she only felt amazement that Marvin could have continued for so long with so many wounds.

  With Brightbarton already ordering SWAT into the cavern and dispatching orders to anyone else in the vicinity, they moved in a ragged, bloody procession toward the road. When they cleared the hollow and entered the forest, Jodi was stunned at the number of police jerking zip-lock cuffs on dozens of Druids.

  Rifles were scattered across the forest floor.

  “Get me out of this thing!” Brightbarton bellowed as he unhooked the belt holding him fast to the gurney and crawled off, to stand. He raised an arm in what seemed biblical wrath; “I want every one of these scumbags booked for murder!” he roared. “Tell the magistrate they’re going down for murder, for attempted murder, for the attempted murder of a police officer, for the kidnapping and murder of an FBI agent, and the kidnapping and attempted murder of a little boy! And that goes for every one of them by God!”

  It was almost five minutes before they stabilized Marvin and lifted the gurney into the back of an ambulance with Brightbarton still bellowing commands that Jodi finally remembered Joe Mac. But at the thought she spun and walked toward a squad car.

  “Strong!” Brightbarton shouted. “Where do you think you’re going!”

  “I’m going after Joe.”

  “You can’t go anywhere! You’re involved! You have to go to the hospital!”

  Jodi didn’t look back. “I don’t need a hospital, captain.”

  “Strong! If you walk, it’s your badge!” Brightbarton was breathless, and hesitated. “You don’t even know where Joe’s gone!”

  “Yeah,” Jodi grimaced, “I know where he’s going.”

  “How do you know!”

  “I just know, captain.”

  Brightbarton staggered toward her. “Don’t do it, Jodi! You’re a great cop! You’re throwing away your badge! You’re throwing away your career!”

  “So be it,” Jodi said and stood with one foot inside the squad car, her hand on the door, as she gazed. “Thank you, captain. You were right. You don’t own this job until it costs you. And sometimes it’s not always you that pulls the trigger. But Joe’s gone after Professor Graven. And I’m going after Joe.”

  She shut the door.

  In seconds the squad car was sailing int
o a low half-sun rising to her side casting the blood and the black of the forest in an azure haze. And when Jodi left the dirt road to hit the tarmac she floored it so that the sunlight was streaking through the trees casting her in the light, then the dark, then the light and then the dark as if revealing the heart of good and evil and lies and truth that this horrifying journey had become as she rushed toward what she knew would be the darkest truth of all.

  * * *

  Sitting in the front room, Joe Mac rested a forearm on the table clutching the .45 in a blood-soaked hand. He was dragging deep burning breaths, and the enraged Kosiniski Brothers had all but refused to let him get out of the truck but Joe had prevailed.

  Joe Mac had smiled and said goodbye but the brothers simply bowed their heads and drove away.

  A sound …

  … Yeah, it’s him … He’s moving with strong steps … No hesitation … A key in the door … The door opening, closing … Steps approaching … The click of a light switch and … no more movement … He’s standing there staring at me …

  “Glad you made it, professor,” said Joe Mac.

  Professor Graven took a single step, and Joe Mac thumbed back the hammer of the .45. “I wouldn’t do that,” he said. “I may be blind, but I’ll still get you.” He tried to smile, but pain and exhaustion ripped the guts out of it before it began.

  Professor Graven said slowly, “Why aren’t you in a hospital, detective? You certainly look like you need one.”

  “How’d you make it out of there?”

  “Luck.”

  “I’ll bet.” Joe Mac took a shallow breath and wasn’t surprised that the next breath didn’t immediately follow. He said, “They didn’t know who you were, did they?” He paused. “You know who they are. But they don’t know who you are. Because only the high priest knows everything. That’s how you got somebody to stand in for you tonight, wasn’t it? You made a phone call.”

  “You are bleeding very badly, detective.” Professor Graven hadn’t moved again. “You are seeing things that are not there.”

  Joe Mac removed his glasses to reveal eyes white and opaque and translucent. “I see just fine,” said Joe. “I see you.”