Plane of the Godless

by Peter Hartz

  It was just over fifteen minutes after David had first entered the lobby area of the senator’s office when he looked up pleasantly as the secretary behind the big oak desk spoke his name.

  “Mister Wilhelm? The Senator will see you now.”

  “Thank you,” he responded as he stood, and walked to the door she held open for him. He paused just before the door, smiled at her again, and then proceeded through the door.

  The door shut behind him, and he sensed the spell Giltreas cast on it, then again as a second one was cast on the other door into the room. No one would be getting through those doors any time soon.

  “Senator? I am David Wilhelm. Perhaps you know who I am?” He walked over to the desk, pointedly ignoring the other man seated in one of the two chairs in front of it.

  Arnold looked over the man in front of him with carefully hidden contempt. He was to wait until enough time had passed, a couple minutes, before he was supposed to rescue the Senator from this latest nut to grace the Senate Office Building on Capital Hill, something he was really looking forward to.

  “I’m sorry; I don’t believe we’ve met before. Am I supposed to know who you are?” The smooth voice hid his trepidation, and the Senator smiled his best public smile at the man that stood in the way of his ambitions. He took the hand that was offered in a brief handshake, then let it go, surprised at how much relief he felt when nothing happened. That was when something did, but it was not directed at him.

  David’s right hand flashed suddenly into a fist, and David pivoted to his left where Arnold was seated next to the desk, putting all his weight behind that fist, connecting with Arnold’s jaw and stunning him temporarily. Then something else happened.

  Another person simply appeared in the room, in the open area between the desk and the main door. He was unusual in his appearance, with grey hair, a greyish tinge to his skin, and mesmerizing amber-colored eyes. He murmured something, and a flash of light came from him, followed by something out of a bad science fiction movie.

  A wall of what appeared to be glowing water seemed to form out of nowhere, standing there in his office. It was almost seven feet tall and four feet wide, with a raised edge that bordered it. It stood in midair a few inches above the floor, with an oval shape. The entire construct glowed and waivered slightly as it illuminated the corners of his office in the whitish light it threw into the room. He looked at it dumbly, wondering what it was, when the second man stepped aside, and four more men in military-style black clothing, boots, gloves and balaclavas stepped out of the strange thing into his office. They went over to Arnold, grabbed him by the arms, and two men pulled him into the thing, then came for the Senator. He started to scream, but it didn’t matter. The grey man in the room murmured something else, and no noise came out of his mouth, even though it felt like he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Then the two remaining men grabbed him and, at a nod from David, pulled him with them into the strange thing standing in his office.

  Arnold had always considered himself to be a tough, capable man. But he knew he was smart, too. That was why, when he suddenly found himself in a strange room after being pulled through whatever that was by the two masked men who had grabbed him in Del Monico’s office, his eyes darted around to evaluate his surroundings. His heart sank as he realized he was now surrounded by seven men and women facing him all dressed in black, with balaclavas covering their faces. And every one of them held a pistol in their hands, pointed down at the ground. He shook his head once more to try to clear the effects of the punch, then was pulled along further away from the thing he had just emerged from, only to see the Senator he was supposed to be protecting pulled through the same, whatever it was, as well.

  Del Monico felt his world spin crazily as he was suddenly not in his office anymore. The room they were in was strange, as if it was built on a movie set or something. He looked around when his balance returned, and was shocked at what he saw.

  “What the fuck is the meaning of this?” He bellowed at the top of his lungs, but no sound came out again. Shit. How the hell did they silence him like that?

  David nodded at the grey man, who waved his hand at Del Monico, and then spoke. “Ok, you can be heard again.”

  “What the fuck is the meaning of this shit?!” He was rewarded with the sound of his voice blasting out into the room, and cursed inside when he realized that it sounded strained and somewhat fearful. “When they figure out you have assaulted a U.S. Senator, and kidnapped me, no less, you will be lucky if you rot in jail for the rest of your pathetic lives!”

  “So, you feel that the law is something that should be respected, then, Senator?” Something in David’s voice should have warned him, but he had too much steam behind him to stop now.

  “You’re goddamn right, you stupid little fuck! Now bring me back to my office before things go bad for you!” He tried to shake himself free of the men holding his arms, but they were incredibly strong, and didn’t seem to have any problem holding on to him.

  “So, the fact that you chose to have a black-ops team attack my sister and kill her, then plan to wait around to kill me, then go and kill my wife, is how YOU respect the law?”

  The anger in David’s voice snapped him out of his bravado. He tried to say something, but instead his mouth just opened and closed like a fish out of water as he tried to figure out what to say next.

  “Having trouble with telling the truth? Don’t worry; we have a solution to that. In the meantime, I need you to have a seat in the chair behind you. We have the camera set up to record you while you are sitting down. That’s the best angle, what with the lighting and all.”

  The two men holding him backed him up to the chair he hadn’t noticed before, and forced him into it. Then the grey man walked up to him, and Del Monico shrank back from him as he realized that this man had done whatever had been done to get him out of his office and to… wherever they were now.

  “Don’t worry. We need you to be in one piece for this.” David walked over and stood next to the chair he was being held in, and stood there for a moment looking down at the U.S. Senator, one of the most powerful elected officials in the entire country, an unreadable look on his face. Then his hips and shoulders twisted as his fist flashed out and connected with his nose, smashing it flat onto his face, in a stunningly powerful blow.

  Del Monico shrieked in pain and shock as both hands flew to his face to hold his nose, which was now bleeding profusely.

  “I thought you ‘eeded ‘e i’ one ‘iece!”

  “Oh, I do. I just wanted you to experience a little pain and suffering, you tiny little pile of shit!” David’s voice rose at the end, and the sheer volume and vitriol in it caused Del Monico to shy away from him in fear, to his own internal disgust. He started to sob as the pain and the situation threatened to overwhelm him.

  “You think you can’t be gotten to? You think you are protected? What are we all to you? Just pieces on a chess board that you can fuck with any time you want? Is that all we are to you?” David leaned down and thrust his head into the Senator’s face, almost daring the man to hit him back, but Del Monico was off balance from the pain and badly terrified at what was happening.

  Arnold was appalled at what was happening. The men that had captured them seemed to be entirely focused on the tableau unfolding at them, and he could only watch as David punched the Senator. He was completely outnumbered, in an unknown location, and unarmed, being guarded by several people who clearly had training, and just as clearly were committed to the path in front of them. There was nothing he could do about it, and he ground his teeth in frustration.

  “I ‘ink you ‘roke ‘y ‘ose.” The sentence came out in a miserable sob, and David nodded.

  “Good. You deserve more. I should kill you for what you did to Michelle, and wanted to do to me and my wife. But instead, we have a different idea. You are going to tell us, in your own words, exactly what the fuck has been going on, and why. But first, Gil, if you would please?”r />
  Giltreas looked at the pathetic human in front of him, and grimaced. This was the worst kind of man he could imagine: a coward who wanted to be a king. He cast the spell to heal the man, and the Senator looked up suddenly as the pain went away as if it had never happened. He looked down as he felt his nose, and it didn’t hurt. Shock further wore away at his sanity as he looked up at the grey man in terror.

  “What did you do? How did you do that?”

  “It was but a simple healing spell. Most children learn it by their eighth summer.” The contempt in the strange man’s voice was a new thing; he hadn’t heard anything like that since his older brother had stopped beating him up in middle school.

  “And this will clean up the blood you have all over your clothing.” Another flash of light enveloped him, and he looked down as the blood that had been soaking into his expensive suit, tie and dress shirt suddenly vanished, as well.

  “And now, you will speak the truth, you pathetic little man.” Another murmur, and he felt a tingling feeling in his brain for a moment.

  Gil moved aside, as did the men standing beside the Senator. He looked around, and suddenly looked at the camera in terror.

  “I won’t tell you anything. This is wrong. I won’t say a word. You have to bring me back to my office. Right now!”

  David just smirked, and hit record on the expensive digital camcorder mounted on the tripod some six feet from the chair, and tightly focused on the Senator’s face. The light from the nearby windows provided enough illumination to let the camcorder clearly capture the identity of the man sitting there.

  “Tell me everything you know about what is going on with Michelle Wilhelm, David Wilhelm, Allison Wilhelm, and MDST, the company owned by Michelle Wilhelm and David Wilhelm.”

  “I…” He fought it with a desperation and courage he didn’t know he’d ever had, but in the end, the spell to compel truth Giltreas had cast on him was by far stronger than any mortal’s will, and he found himself speaking uncontrollably.

  Under Phil’s skilled questioning, the entire horrifying story of abuse of power at the highest levels of the Government of the United States of America came out.

  Arnold could only stare as what he was involved in, and the monster he worked for, was laid bare in front of him. He knew that his boss was ruthless and powerful, but even he’d had no idea what was really happening. All he’d been told was that there was a threat against the Senator’s life. That was something he knew how to deal with. But this. This was something else. Something else entirely. He realized that he was grateful that the plan had been turned on his head before he had done something he would have regretted. And he was getting more than a little pissed off at how he had almost been used to do something in a plan that was so evil.

  David tried to keep from vomiting all over the floor as the true story came out. For the most part, it was similar to what Steven had said, but the Senator knew a lot more, including the truth about what was supposed to happen to Michelle, David, and Allison. They were all to be killed. The blame was supposed to be placed on Steven, who would be arrested for the murders. When he was safely out of sight, he would never return; instead, he would be quietly killed and stuffed in an unmarked grave in a distant forest in Idaho, along with his wife.

  With every officer of MDST, Inc. out of the way, a federal judge would be presented with a petition to place the company into receivership, in order to have its assets seized. Then the coveted cryptographic technology would be turned over to the NSA, who would do whatever they wanted with it. The Senator didn’t know what the NSA wanted with it in the end. He didn’t really care. All he cared about was getting the company into the NSA’s hands. That would have triggered the transfer of millions of dollars from a black account in the NSA to a special account in a foreign bank to which only he had access.

  But when David asked who else was involved, everyone who familiar with the U.S. Congress was shocked at the answer that came out.

  Giltreas turned to Nate, and asked, “Who or what is the Minority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives? What does that mean?”

  Chapter 32

  The four brigands, as Giltreas had labeled them, were led into the throne room for their next audience with the Queen, their hands and feet chained while they were still in their cells with locks that had been affixed by magical spells. Aaron, as his usual charming self, had not been able to stop screaming obscenities and curses at everyone around them, so a wizard had been called, and Aaron found himself on the receiving end of a silence spell cast on his head. He could scream at the top of his lungs, but when he realized he couldn’t even hear himself, he had to fall back on glaring at everyone around him. He could hear them, he realized as they laughed at his state, but he couldn’t make a sound.

  A normal person, such as his three erstwhile companions, would normally be terrified at the display of magic so casually used against them. To Aaron, it was just another reason to hate everything about this stupid place. He was certain he would get his chance to kill every human and freak around him, starting with the huge red monstrosity that seemed to enjoy taunting him with its very presence. Sure, it never even looked at him unless it was going to smack him around, but he just knew it was rubbing it in that Aaron was in the cell and the red bull-headed freak was not.

  Jack resolved himself to never getting home again. He expected he would die here, on this world, wherever it was, and would never be seen again by his family, which, come to think of it, was a fate he completely deserved. There was nothing left, but to accept his fate. A strange calm came over him as acceptance worked its way into his consciousness. He was ready to die. He just had some few moments left to ponder if there was any hope for an afterlife for a murderer like himself.

  He looked around, and paled when he saw that Michelle (the new version, at any rate), David, and his wife Allison were also in the throne room, along with that strange grey-skinned and grey haired man that had so completely scared him and the others when they were resurrected. He also saw five humans that, from their clothing, had to have been part of Michelle and David’s company. He had no idea who they were, but they appeared to be former military, including the one African American man, who seemed to be built like a body builder, or professional wrestler or something. They were, though, all armed. He could see pistols in holsters under their unzipped hoodies, when they moved. It was not readily evident, but he had been around armed people enough that it was obvious to him. David and Allison were also armed. He wondered why at first, but then realized that the show of force was for him and his team members. The thought wore at him a little more.

  Jack shivered, not wanting to look Michelle, David, and Allison in the eye. It all seemed so pointless now – the money, the job, what he used to do. Funny – he realized he just referred to his old life in the past tense. ‘I wonder what that means,’ he thought to himself.

  Then there was no more time to contemplate what was happening, as the four of them were stood in the center of the room, with easily thirty guards surrounding them, all with spears held pointing at them. If Aaron acted out now, it would not end pretty for the psychopath, he thought. Or for the rest of them, when it came down to it. It was strange how the thought of dying here didn’t scare him, for some reason.

  The head guardsman once more cast Compel Truth on the four, doubting that anything would come of it again, just as it had the first time these four miscreants had been presented to the Queen.

  Once again, the Queen spoke up. “Which of you is the leader of this group?”

  Jack suddenly found himself speaking before he could stop himself. “I am.” He then looked down away from eye contact with the queen, suddenly ashamed of himself. His mind had undergone such a huge change in the last weeks in the jails in the Elven city, and he wondered if that was more the result of dying and being brought back to life, or if the situation itself was the bigger contributor. He didn’t trust himself to decide which it was.

  “Is it t
rue what David has said, that you attacked and killed Michelle? And that this was a task given to you by someone else?”

  Jack hesitated a moment, as if struggling with himself. The queen wondered if he was fighting the spell, but in reality, it was much simpler. He was coming apart inside, his mind slowly breaking down and losing touch with reality. He was so incredibly far from anything familiar, and was powerless to stop what would happen to him. He was among people that could compel him to answer truthfully any question they should ask. Somewhere deep inside, a small, frightened part of himself, untouched by the spell, suddenly desperately wanted to confess his sins, as if that might, if not save him, at least grant him some peace, and that part of him reached out and took control, and his mind coalesced enough to answer the questions put to him.

  “Yes. It is all true.” He suddenly said the words so calmly, that it surprised even him

  “Why would you do such a thing? Is she a criminal that you were sent to dispatch? Had she committed some crime by your laws that called for such a punishment?”

  “No, not that I know of, Your Majesty.” He said it quietly, but the impact was loud.

  “Then why?”

  “Because I was paid to… to…” Even with his new determination to come clean, he still couldn’t say ‘because I was paid to kill her.’ It just wouldn’t come out.

  “How much? How much were you paid to end the life of this young human woman? What is the life of a mortal human woman such as she worth on your plane?”

  Jack spoke again. “Two million dollars for Michelle. Allison and David were worth an additional million dollars each. It was supposed to be split equally among the four of us.”

  The queen had no idea what a dollar was, and only a very limited idea of how many a million was. Such numbers were the purview of seers and magicians, who dealt in such abstract, unreal thoughts. The thought that someone would pay someone so many of something to kill other humans, was just not real to her. “Who paid you?” The question was short and demanded an answer.