Portals of Infinity: Reprisal

by John Van Stry

  I knocked a second time, and then tried the door, it was locked.

  "Hmm, let's look around a little," I said, and we walked around towards the back.

  It was a good sized building, probably about the size of a football field. When we got around to the back, there was another door, which was also locked. We were out of sight of the main street however, and there were quite a bit of shadows here, so I stripped down to just my pants, gave my clothing to Laria to hold, and shifted into my champion form.

  "How did you do that?" Laria asked surprised. It hadn't occurred to me that I hadn't done this in front of her since we'd been coming to Earth.

  "Shh," I warned her and I jumped up to the window up above the door, and digging my claws in, I looked through the window to make sure no one was inside. Once I was sure, I broke one of the panes, then stuck my hand in and unlocked it, then climbed in.

  I was on a second floor, in a small back room that looked more like it was for cleaning supplies. I guess the warehouse had some kind of an attic up above it. I listened at the door, didn't hear anything, and stepping out I found I was in a short hallway, with a second door next to the one I'd just come through, another across the way, and a staircase at the far end, on my left.

  I made my way to the stairs, and still not hearing anyone, I went down them, and into the warehouse proper.

  The warehouse was just a large empty building; there were a few crates in it, but other than dust, nothing else at all. There was an enclosed office space built into the building at the other end, along with another stairway.

  I hurried down, let Laria in, shifted back, and then put on my clothes.

  "Let's check out the offices," I said and I led her across the empty floor, and in through an unlocked door.

  Other than the furniture and a few empty filing cabinets, the offices were all empty. Cenewyg's symbol however, was painted on the walls in several places, with the words "Gatwick Shipping" under it.

  "Huh, looks like they're out of business," I said looking around.

  "What was upstairs?" Laria asked me.

  "I don't know, let's go take a look," I said and we went up the front staircase, which led to a rather nice room, containing a table, some chairs, and had a few doors off of it. It looked like an ordinary conference room. The first two doors I tried were just closets, but the third let into a short hallway heading towards the back of the building, so I went down that, coming to another door, which was locked.

  Three good kicks later and it yielded to my champion's strength and we stepped inside.

  "Bingo," I said looking around. It was the local temple, and there at the far end of the room, was the altar.

  "I wonder where everyone is?" Laria asked, "Look at all the dust."

  I looked around and noticed it as well. No one had been in here in a long time, years at least.

  "I guess this explains why nobody has heard from them," I said and walked down the center aisle to the altar. Unlike the other ones I'd seen, this one was made of wood and not stone. Either the floor wasn't strong enough, or no one wanted to haul stone up those stairs.

  "Wait here," I said and I ran back downstairs to where the fire extinguisher was hanging on the wall, sure enough, there was a fire axe next to it, along with a rope and a few other things. I grabbed the axe and when back upstairs.

  "Well, this shouldn't take long," I said and started in on chopping the altar in half.

  "Now what?" Laria asked after I'd finished.

  I shrugged, "Let's check out the rest of the place," I said and led her through the one door behind the altar. Unsurprisingly, it led out to the hallway I'd been in before, I could even see the footprints I'd left in the dust. As they weren't human footprints, I figured I should clean those up before I left.

  I went over to the door I hadn't yet tried, and opened it. It was an office, apparently the local priest's office. There were a number of items, which I guess were religious laying around, but the most interesting one, was the letter lying on the desk next to a ring.

  It was a resignation letter.

  "What's that?" Laria asked as I picked it up and read it.

  "Apparently, about the time the old Soviet Union collapsed, the local priest here had a crisis of conscious, and quit."

  "Old Soviet Union?" she asked.

  "The country that used to rule here," I said, "This is now an independent country, and from what I see in this letter, the local religious types were getting suspicious and they're a pretty militant group. I guess he was getting worried."

  I scanned down a bit, "Oh, here it is, Listen to this," I read the letter out loud:

  "... the reports are true, the mujahideen of Afghanistan have destroyed our temple in Kabul. They tortured and killed Harris, as well as all of the followers that they could find. More than half of our followers here have since left, on learning of their fate, and I cannot blame them. Our leader has not seen fit to show his face for many years, nor has he protected his followers. I have begun to doubt the many 'so-called' miracles he had shown us, as he is obviously dead somewhere and not coming back!"

  "It goes on, and ends with him denying Sean, resigning his position."

  "So does this mean we don't have to go to the other place?" Laria asked coming over and rubbing up against me in a display of one of those feline habits that the women of Saladin had, and which honestly, I quite enjoyed.

  "Yes, we can head back home now, and I can make plans to deal with the last two places." I started to summon the gateway.

  "You know, we have that nice hotel room, why don't we wait until morning?"

  I looked at her, "Why?"

  "I think I'm in heat," she said, "Or whatever it is, the people here call it."

  I laughed; I hadn't thought about that at all, human women cycled a lot more often than the felinoid ones did. "Okay," I grinned, "we can go back to the hotel for tonight."

  I was woken up by someone kicking the door in. It was late, the clock said three am, Laria was cuddled up behind me, and we were both naked, having spent quite a bit of time engaged in rather, reproductive activities.

  The lights came on, and I noticed there were three of them, all of them were wearing police uniforms, and the ones on the right and the left were holding what looked like submachine guns, which were pointed at me. The one in the middle stated loudly, in English, "Do Not Move. You Are Under Arrest!" as the lights came up.

  I put my hands over my head and sat up slowly, as Laria groaned and put her hands over her eyes.

  "What's going on?" she asked.

  "Put your hands over your head, slowly," I told her, "and don't resist, we're being arrested for some reason, and I don't want you getting hurt."

  "What?" she said and sat up rather quickly, but she had her hands up at least.

  I noticed the eyes of all three of them go rather wide, Laria was a rather lovely young woman, and her charms were now being clearly displayed.

  The leader said something in a language I didn't know, and the two gunners spread out to the sides, then two more men entered the room, and we were ordered to roll over, face down on the bed, and put our hands behind our backs. We were then both handcuffed, and moved to our feet, as four more men entered the room, and started to search it.

  "How about a blanket to cover my wife," I said politely.

  "Quiet!" the one in charge said, and I got poked rather hard in the back with what felt like a baton.

  I shrugged, the room had to stink of sex, we'd been having it for hours after all, and I'm sure we both stunk of sweat and other things as well. So it was probably having more of an effect on them, than on me, especially as even as mussed up as she was, Laria was still rather hot looking, standing there naked.

  One of the searchers said something, and the leader went over to him, the searcher handed him our passports, wallets, and the Gatwick ring which I was still carrying around. He looked through our passports, then he looked at the ring, then looked at me. "You will both be coming with
us!"

  "Can we get dressed first?" I asked, and this time I got hit on the side with the baton, hard enough to make me grunt.

  He said something to the others, and we were paraded out of there naked, down the stairs through the hotel and out onto the street. We were then put into separate cars, which drove off through the empty streets. About ten minutes later we pulled up in front of a rather severe looking building and we were both marched inside, past a number of police officers and other people, down several halls, past a couple of heavy gates made from bars like you typically find in a prison, and then into separate cells.

  I saw them pushing Laria into the one next to mine, as I was similarly treated.

  The room itself was rather bare, red brick walls, rough concrete floor, and what looked like a plaster ceiling. There was a small bright light in the center of the ceiling, and no windows. The door was a solid metal one with a wire reinforced window, about a foot square in size, and that was it.

  "Will?" I heard Laria call out. The rooms at least weren't very well insulated.

  "Don't worry, Hon. Everything will be fine," I told her.

  "I want to go home, Will."

  "We will, soon, I promise. I just want to find out what's going on here first."

  I checked the door, in my champion form, I could probably break it down, then again, the brick walls probably wouldn't last too long either.

  "Okay, Will." she replied.

  I took a few minutes to look around my cell and pace it off. Except for the light, it was pretty featureless and barren. I was starting to think about just shifting and breaking through the wall and leaving, when I heard the locks on the door being worked.

  I looked over and it was the man who had arrested us, he only had one guard with him, a rather strong looking man who was carrying a nightstick. I was a little surprised that he wasn't carrying a gun after the show of force with the machine guns at the hotel, maybe guns weren't allowed in the prison?

  "Come," he said and motioned to me. I nodded and padded over to him.

  "This way!" he said and the guard withdrew as I followed the man down the hallway, the guard coming up behind me and putting his nightstick under my arms and grabbing the center of it, while his other hand grabbed my shoulder and he steered me down the hallway, keeping me on my toes.

  They led me into a room at the end of the hallway; this one had a table bolted to the floor, as well as several chairs around it.

  "Sit!" the one in charge commanded as the guard released me, and pushed me towards the chair.

  Doing my best not to stumble and fall, I managed to land in the chair, with my wrists still handcuffed behind me. The guard then stood next to the door, and the man in charge stood against the wall across from me.

  "So, what's this all about then?" I asked as I sat up, still naked.

  "Silence!" he warned and the guard took a step forward and gave me a whack on the top of the head with his nightstick. I yelped unexpectedly, it was a lot heavier than a piece of wood had any right to be.

  A moment later another man entered the room, and sat down in the chair across the table from me. He was dressed in a suit and tie, but not an overly fancy one. He had short dark hair and a fairer complexion than my other captors, who looked more like locals.

  "Mister Gatwick," He said looking at me.

  I shook my head, "Nope, try again."

  I got hit on the head again, and I swore, "Knock it off with the nightstick, I'm not a Gatwick," I growled.

  That earned me another hit on the head. I burned a healing spell; I was starting to get dizzy.

  "Oh please now, Mister Gatwick, we know who you are, we found this on you after all," he said and produced the Gatwick ring. "You were heard to claim that Sean Gatwick is your uncle."

  I looked at him, then at the guard.

  "You may answer now."

  "I said that so the taxi driver would think we belonged there and wouldn't call the police on us."

  "I find that hard to believe, in light of this," he said setting the ring down.

  "What's this all about?" I asked him.

  He nodded to the guard and I got hit on the head again.

  "I'm the one asking the questions here, Mister Gatwick."

  "Then maybe you should try asking the right ones!" I growled at him again.

  This time when the guard moved to hit me on the head I leaned forward as I shifted into high gear and stood up. His swing missed me, passing just behind my back and I side kicked him in the gut with enough force that he hit the wall behind him and fell to the floor gasping for air.

  "I'm willing to cooperate," I said, sitting back down, "If you stop hitting me on the head."

  The one leaning against the far wall took a step forward, but the guy sitting across from me raised a hand stopping him.

  "We have your wife, Mister Gatwick; I would suggest you behave yourself."

  "I'd be more than happy too, call me William, please. Now, what is it you want to know, and what is your interest in Gatwick?"

  "Very well, I'll agree to your little game for the moment. We know that Sean Gatwick has been running illegal arms through our country for decades. Under the Soviets, he paid the proper bribes, and those in charge looked the other way. However those times are now over."

  "So, do you represent the government, or the competition?" I asked.

  "Really now, William, we represent the government."

  I shrugged and leaned back in the chair, keeping an eye on the recovering guard as he slowly regained his feet.

  "With all of the illegal stuff running through this area, I wasn't sure. But I'm not interesting in those activities; I'm here for very different reasons."

  "And those would be?"

  "You searched the warehouse after I left, didn't you?"

  "Yes, we did."

  "You saw what I did to the altar, and if you read that letter you probably have a pretty good idea what Gatwick was up to."

  He smirked, "You expect me to believe, that you came all of this way, paid all those bribes, and got a fake passport, solely to destroy an altar?"

  "Religion is a very serious thing to some folks; there are people who don't care for what Gatwick is trying to do, and who will go to rather extreme measures to stop him."

  He laughed, "Oh please now, William! You hardly strike me as a fanatic!"

  "What do you know about religion?" I asked and leaned forward looking at him.

  "Platitudes and words to live by, rather poor words to live by too, if you ask me, that is all that it is. Now, enough of this, you will tell me the truth, Mister Gatwick, and I think I can guarantee that!" he said with a nasty smile.

  "My name is William the God Slayer," I growled and shifted as the guard took a step towards me, already swinging the nightstick down towards my head. Quickly snapping my head back I caught the nightstick in my jaws as it came down and bit hard into it as I easily broke free of the handcuffs with the enhanced strength of my champion form. I could taste the lead core of the nightstick as I bit into it, another mystery solved.

  Jumping up to my feet I grabbed the guard I threw him over the head of my interrogator into the man standing back against the wall, who was just now starting to move.

  Spitting out the nightstick I growled and looked down at my rather shocked looking interrogator. "And you are about to have a very religious experience!"

  Laria looked up and ran over to me as I opened the door and entered her cell.

  "Let me get those off of you," I said and unlocked the handcuffs with one of the keys I'd taken off of the guards.

  "You okay, Hon?" I asked her and gave her a hug.

  She sniffed a little, "I'm cold and I want to go home."

  I thought I heard someone yell something at the end of the hall, I guess my handiwork here had already been discovered.

  "Yes, home," I smiled and opening a gateway, I picked her up and stepped through.

  Sixteen

  Washington, D.C. - Earth


  1 Month

  "Agent Addison," I said turning on the bedroom lights, "moving up in the world I see."

  He groaned and sat up, "How the hell did you get in here? And it's Executive Assistant Director now."

  "So, where are the wife and kids? I hope you didn't get divorced."

  "Waiting for the house to sell before we move, I can't afford another one until we do. Now why the hell are you here?"

  "Go shower and shave, I'll go make coffee," I said and walked out to the kitchen. It was a rather nice apartment, but it was still on the outskirts, outside of the D.C. city limits, where the rents weren't as high as in the city.

  He walked in, ten minutes later, showered, shaved, and dressed in his suit. I handed him a cup of coffee, and took another sip of mine.

  "So, what have you found?" I asked him.

  "You really do have a hell of a lot of nerve, do you know that?"

  I shrugged, "Comes with the job."

  "And what job would that be?"

  I smiled, "I think you'd sleep better not knowing, assuming you even believed me that is."

  "After the last time I saw you, I've got a much more open mind. Did you kill my boss?"

  I shook my head, "Heart attack. When I confronted him about what he was doing, it was too much of a shock for him."

  "I find that hard to believe," Addison said.

  I shrugged, "He knew what I was, and he was expecting the worst. His own fears are what killed him."

  "So, what, are you an angel or something?"

  "Or something, so, did you find anything? Or did I waste both of our times by getting you out of bed early."

  Addison gave a little "harrumph" and sighed, "No, I found something. My boss had this little secret society thing going, and was trying to recruit agents and other D.C. area officials into it."

  "Oh? Got a list?"

  "Why? So you can go talk to the people on it? I'm not ignorant; you'll kill them, won't you?"

  "What makes you say that?" I asked surprised.

  "Well, because I've been talking to Interpol, and I've also been talking to the Brits over at MI5. Does the name 'Thomas' ring any bells?"

  I laughed, "So he's with MI5? And here I thought he was just a regular police detective."