"I think this will suffice," I said, showing him the ring I'd taken off the priest in Garrison.
His eyes widened and then he first turned and looked behind him, I guess checking to make sure we were alone, and he then looked back at me, "This may not be the best time, Sir. Mister Allison has company."
I nodded, "That's why I brought her," I said and motioned towards Laria, "who is it?"
"The local IRA members, they're here to talk business, apparently they have some concerns."
I nodded, "I thought so, issues in Garrison, am I right?"
He looked at me surprised and nodded slowly.
"I'm William Gatwick, Sean's nephew; I deal with his problems for him," I said and burned a cantrip to put a little charisma behind my words.
"Oh," he said and straightened up. "I'm sorry, Mister Gatwick, I had no idea, please come inside."
I smiled as he stepped aside and we entered the house.
We were in an entryway; there was a closet on the left, probably for coats and such, and a hallway leading back into the house with several doors off of it.
"Where is everyone?"
"In the main room," he said motioning towards a set of double doors which were closed.
"Hey, we can't have those in here," he said as Tom and Jeri pushed by him into the hallway.
"Don't worry, Irish Wolfhounds," I told him, "IRA types love 'em."
He eyed me a bit skeptically then turned to close the door, "Mister Allison isn't—"
I pulled out the knife I'd been hiding up my sleeve as I switched into high gear and drove it through the base of his skull up into his brain. Death was instant and he never made a sound.
I caught him as he fell, "Open that door," I told Laria and nodded towards what I thought was a closet.
She did, and it was. I stuffed the dead body in it, retrieved and wiped my knife off quickly, re-sheathed it, then did a quick search under the suit jacket he was wearing. As I suspected there was a pistol there. I slid the slide back slightly to make sure it was loaded, then switched the safety off and stuck it in my belt, behind my back. It wasn't very comfortable there, but hopefully it wouldn't be there long. As my shirt was black, hopefully it wouldn't stand out too much if anyone should see my back.
I closed the closet door, moved the items I'd set outside, into the hallway, and then closed and locked the front door.
"Well, let's see what we're dealing with here," I said and walked over to the double doors. I listened a moment, I could hear several people talking, so I shrugged and decided to make my entrance.
"Gentlemen," I said sliding the doors open and taking a look around, there were nine of them, seated around a table, with the remains of a meal still on it. There were two more standing guard, one against the back wall, the other behind the man seated at the head of the table.
The people at the table were quite obviously split into two groups, there were three seated by the man at the head, one on his left, two on his right. I could see Cen's ring on one of the fingers of his right hand, so I knew who they were.
The other group of five were apparently the ones from the IRA, two of whom looked decidedly different, from the way they were dressed compared to the others, which was more like the way I'd noticed the locals in Northern Ireland had dressed in my short time there.
Plus I recognized one of them.
"Thomas!" I said and smiled, "So nice to see you again! Doing well?"
I was impressed that he didn't even bat an eye, "William, I'm sorry we didn't get to speak more before you had to go. Who is your lady friend?"
"Oh, we can do introductions later, I'm sure. I must say I'm rather surprised to see you in town, I'd have thought certain parties would be rather upset with you these days."
"Why do you think I'm here?" he said with a smile.
"Wait a minute, who is this?" the man sitting at the head of the table, whom I assumed to be Mister Allison, the one in charge of the Boston operation, asked. "Is he one of yours?"
"Oh, he's definitely not one of mine, John," Thomas said with a smile, "apparently he's a friend of Sean's; isn't that right, William?"
Mister Allison turned towards me, "What do you know about our Mister Gatwick? And where is Rodney?"
"Out fetching my bags, Rodney that is," I smiled and took a step into the room; I turned back to Laria, "Be a dear and find the kitchen and get me a glass of water please?"
"Yes, William," she nodded and left us, walking down the hallway.
"Hate discussing business in front of her," I smiled at them, "Sean is currently indisposed, there were some problems in South Africa and he's keeping a rather low profile right now, until things cool down."
"We've heard about what happened in South Africa," Allison said staring at me, "Now, who are you and what is your part in it? Answer me or I'll have Steven here kill you and your woman."
I slid the ring off of my finger and tossed it to him, "Interpol had infiltrated the estate, apparently there are a few moles in our organization. Uncle Sean," I said emphasizing the world 'uncle', "asked me to come and take a look around, until he's back in town."
He looked at me skeptically; I could see he wasn't quite buying it. "What were you doing in Garrison?"
"Following up a lead, I'd just left a load of explosives with Old Norbert and well, apparently something happened while I was in town discussing a deal with Thomas there."
Thomas started to stand, "We should probably be going, I suspect the two of you have some private business to discuss."
"Oh no, please, sit." I smiled at Thomas, as I thought about a comment Rachel had made and an idea popped into my head. "I think you might just enjoy this." I turned back towards Allison, "Have you shown any of them the altar in the basement?"
The shocked look on Allison's face, as well as the other three seated by him was rather priceless.
"You, you're not supposed to tell them about that! You're not supposed to tell anybody about that!" He said and swore jumping to his feet, "Steven, remove this man, immediately!"
"What's this about an altar?" One of the men with Thomas asked looking between me and Allison.
"While the good boys back home probably don't care all that much, I bet you Boston types are pretty solidly Catholic? Am I right?" I asked him, as the one guard, Steven I guess, strode quickly towards me.
"Tom," I said, and just like that, Steven suddenly had about two hundred pounds of wolfhound attached to his neck. He went down quickly, and you could hear the bones crunching as Tom killed him.
"Irish Wolfhounds, gotta love 'em, right guys?" I said and I quickly drew my pistol and pointed it at Allison.
"Keep your friends under control please, Thomas. I don't have any arguments with them."
"Put your gun away, James," he said to the guard standing behind him, "I think perhaps we'd all like to take a little look at what's in the basement."
"No! It's forbidden!" Allison said, his face turning an angry shade of red. The other three all had their hands on the table and were just looking unsure of themselves and the situation.
"Sacrifice anybody lately?" I asked with a smirk.
"Um, Will?" I heard Laria say in a soft voice. I turned to look and there was a woman behind her with a knife to Laria's throat.
"Drop the gun, whoever you are."
"Or?"
"Or I'll kill your wife," she warned.
"She's my concubine," I corrected her, "my wife is at home plotting her next war," I said looking the situation over. She was standing almost completely behind Laria, so shooting her was out of the question, even if I had any idea how well this pistol shot, or thought I could even make such a shot.
"Will!" Laria pleaded.
"I will not warn you again, drop the gun!"
I sighed, Laria was going to get hurt, no matter what I did, it would take some serious healing to save her life, and what healing I had, I was probably going to need for myself. I was probably going to need a priest, and I was going to need one
rather soon.
Then I realized, I had a whole temple of priests, and they were all just a step away.
I opened a portal back to Fel's temple, and sent him a thought asking for someone to be there to save Laria.
Everyone in the room, gasped as a black void opened up behind the woman, who couldn't see it as she was focused on me. That was one of the differences with the gateways I could open, they were visible to anyone, if you were on the right side of it.
"Well then," I said and took the gun by the barrel in my other hand, "catch." I tossed it to her, but I tossed it just a little high.
She reached up with her free hand, stepping back and pressing the knife into Laria's neck, cutting it slightly as she did, which made Laria stumble backwards into her, and then they both fell into the portal which quickly winked out of sight.
I dove for the body on the floor as I let the gateway collapse, as gunfire erupted from one of the men seated at the table, he had drawn when the lady had made her demands and was now firing at where I had been standing.
Tom and Jeri both went for the one that was shooting, as I recovered the gun from the body on the floor. The other two apparently weren't armed, and Allison, who had started for one of the exits from the room, stopped as I put a bullet in the wall in front of him.
"Tom, Jeri," I called them off of the one they were savaging. Jeri trotted over, Tom was limping, and panting hard, apparently he'd been shot. I put my free hand on him and healed him as I looked around the room; he was covered in enough blood from the man he and Jeri had killed, that I don't think any of the others in the room noticed what I did.
As for the man Tom and Jeri had attacked, he had been torn open and ravaged rather nastily and was pumping his life's blood out rather quickly. Not a particularly pleasant scene, but I'd seen worse.
Allison and his two remaining compatriots were looking rather pale and were sweating rather heavily. With one exception, who was puking on the floor, the IRA guys were all taking it rather calmly.
"Now, about that basement," I said and smiled, "I'm sure these good Irish Catholic boys would just love to see your altar to an evil god, one that demands human sacrifices. Don't you?"
"What!?" the man who had asked earlier about the altar said and stood up, glaring at Allison.
"Is this true?" he yelled.
"No, no! Of course it's not true!" Allison replied, shaking in fear.
"For a high priest, you sure sold out your god pretty quick there, Allison," I said and motioned for him to come back to the table.
One of the two sitting at the table panicked then and started yelling.
"He did it! I had nothing to do with it! He did it! Please don't kill me! Don't kill me! It's true, it's all true!" He was babbling fearfully now, "I don't want to die! Please! I had nothing to do with it! Don't kill me!"
"Shut your mouth! You coward!" Allison yelled, advancing on the man.
"You said he'd protect us, he'd save us! Where is he?! Where?! I don't see him, it's a lie, it's all been a lie, all of it! And now we're gonna die!"
I watched amused, it was like a TV show. All these years I thought those things had been just over-hyped drama, but I guess some people really did lose their composure when everything was going mad around them and it looked like they were going to die.
Allison slapped him across the face, and then surprised all of us by grabbing the dinner knife sitting next to the guy's plate, and stuck it in his throat as he screamed.
I shot Allison in the head, and in the sudden silence that followed I looked at the last one sitting there, "What was your religion before you joined this group?" I asked him.
He gulped, "I, I didn't have one."
"Well, if you behave really nicely, and do as I ask, when this is over, you might want to go with these men here, and see about converting to theirs. Because they," I motioned with my free hand to the dead bodies, "all just went to Hell. You however, still have a choice and may even be saved. Understand?"
He nodded, "Yes, Sir."
"Good, now, please show us where the altar is."
He nodded, still pale and shaking, and stood slowly. "This way, Sirs."
Thomas stood and looked at me, "Why do you want us to see this, William?"
"I have issues with cults and religions that sacrifice people, I figure you're all good Catholics and have the same issues. There may be other followers of Sean's here in Boston."
"Not after tonight, there won't be," the other man said.
"See?" I smiled, "I'm William," I said to him, "You are?"
"Edward, I'm the head of the political arm of the IRA here in America." He stopped and looked at Tom and Jeri, "Where did you get them? They look like the very ones my grandfather used to have paintings of, back at his house in Ulster."
I smiled, "I have connections."
"I'd be willing to part with a great deal of cash, for one of those connections," he said as we followed the one leading us through the house, and then down into the basement.
"Tell you what, you clean up any followers of Sean's here in Boston, and I'll get you a breeding pair, no charge."
Edward laughed, "You have a deal." He looked at the one leading us, then back at me, and raised his eyebrows in question.
"If he converts, let him live," I said in a soft voice, "as for the rest, if you can convert them, fine. Otherwise, I don't care what happens, just as long as they're gone."
He nodded his agreement.
We came down into the basement then, and someone had obviously spent a lot of money setting it up right. The Gatwick symbol was done up large on the wall behind the altar, and the altar was like the other's I had seen, complete with a blood groove and a drain for the blood.
"I left some explosives up by the front door, would one of you be nice enough to go back and get it for me?" I said.
"Sean, go get it," Edward said.
Thomas was taking a close look at the altar, as well as the drain.
"This has been used," he said and looked at the one who had led us here.
He nodded, "Mister Allison sacrificed at least two people on it, which I know of. He said he had a dream that told him to do it. He said he got the dream from Gatwick himself."
"Lord above," Thomas said and looked at me.
I nodded, "I need to destroy this altar, and I think the rest of you might want to vacate the premises before I do. I doubt any of you really want to get tied up in this mess."
"No, definitely not," Edward said. "Here's my card, call me when you have the dogs," he handed it to me and then walked out, as Sean came down with the fuel can and the bag. He set those down and followed Edward, along with the rest. Thomas however stayed.
"I'll be up in a minute, you all wait outside," he said. "I need to discuss something with William here."
I moved the fuel container, which was my improvised bomb, under the altar and started rigging a simple fuse on it. I then set about pouring alcohol on everything that would burn.
"Surprised to see me?" Thomas asked me as I worked.
"Yes, actually. Also surprised to see you with those guys."
He looked around, and then lowered his voice as he came near me, "After you blew up the place back home, an opportunity to go after one of the major groups funding the provisional IRA at home presented itself, and well, here I am."
I nodded.
"Thanks for not giving me away."
I shrugged, "I don't really get involved in politics or any of that here anymore. If Cenewyg hadn't tried to kill me, and my ex, I probably wouldn't even be the one doing this."
"Cenewyg?" He asked looking at me confused.
"You know him as Sean Gatwick. That's his real name."
"Oh," he paused a moment, "what happened to your girlfriend and the other woman? What was that thing?"
"Something that doesn't concern you. Laria is safe, and whoever that woman was, well she's probably not very happy right now."
"I see, the less known then, the better?"
I nodded, "Something like that."
"So just who do you work for? Or is that another one I'm better not knowing the answer to?"
I'd finished setting things up down here, so I stood up and looked at him, "I'm not sure you'd believe me, even if you could understand the answer," I told him.
"Humor me."
"Do you believe in god?"
"I guess I do, yes."
I shook my head, "Don't guess, god exists, all of this," I waved a hand at the altar, "is Sean Gatwick trying to make himself a god. Which is why he needs to be stopped."
Thomas paused a moment, obviously thinking as he looked at me.
"Okay," he said and turning around he left the basement.
I lit the fuse, if I had timed it right; I had about ten minutes to get out of there. So I went upstairs, checked the bodies quickly for anything interesting, there wasn't and recovered my ring. Then I went into the kitchen and shifted long enough to use my strength to the rip the gas stove out of the wall, breaking the gas pipe, so that the gas would quickly start filling the upstairs room.
After that I went outside, put the dogs in the back of the car, and waited. When the explosion went off I watched to make sure that it lit the house on fire, then with the sounds of sirens starting to sound off in the distance, I drove down to the end of the block, opened a gateway, and I simply drove through.
Tom, Jeri, and I pretty much tumbled into the room in the temple, we still had the forward momentum from being in the car, and the car of course didn't come along. With the prohibition of champions bringing outside tech and such into their own world, I was pretty sure that would be the case, and I hadn't wanted to leave a car that was registered to me sitting outside a major crime scene.
Thankfully I'd been driving very slowly.
Portals of Infinity: Reprisal Page 12