“Gee, thanks, boss.”
“Any time.”
*****
Samael watched diligently as the vampire walked through the warehouse, his eyes appearing to study the rafters and beams, but darting about as the demon Centurions went about their business. He watched as the intruder paused at key locations and seemed to take his time studying the columns or braces, all the while, the explosive vests were either being manufactured, test-fitted or crated for transportation.
The fallen angel slipped into Lilith’s abode and pulled her aside. “I’ve been watching the undead one. He is studying every step of our undertakings.”
Lilith shrugged. “So? What do I care? He is one man.”
“He is more than a man. He can…” Samael lowered his voice and glanced out the window again. Satisfied that Rufus was beyond hearing, he continued, “He is a controller of demons. He can control me. I do not like what I do not understand.”
Lilith tossed aside the maps she had been studying and turned to face him. “So why not call on your brothers and have them deal with him? If he is such a threat, remove him now. We will carry on as originally planned.” She watched him carefully. “I’ll just be certain to be very careful and not be seen.”
Samael rolled the idea around for only a moment before shaking his head. “No. For this to work, we cannot risk you being seen.” He fell onto the edge of the bed and folded his wings behind him. “You must remain unseen. The demons will rain down carnage and destruction and then you can step in and order them ‘away’. You will be seen as their savior. In exchange for keeping the demons at bay, they will have to put you in charge of everything. They won’t like it, but the demons will continue their attacks until they do.” He turned and faced her. “It is the only way.”
She smiled and caressed his cheek. “Especially once they see you. Once I order you, the big, bad demon, back to hell…they won’t have a choice but crown me queen.”
Samael nodded, rubbing his cheek against her hand. “Order it and I shall obey.”
“And how long before you can dump this body and obtain one more befitting your true stature?” she rubbed at his neck and shoulders as she whispered in his ear.
Samael shrugged. “A matter of hours I suspect. It will be days though until I can transform it as I did this one.”
“Just be sure and choose a human one this time.” She clucked in his ear. “No more bat wings.”
“White feathers from here on.” He kissed her palm and raised his eyes to meet hers. “But the moment the vampire has the system in place…”
“He will be dealt with.” She gave him a soft smile. “He may be able to control you, but let’s see what he can do when he has a thousand demons attacking all at once.”
*****
Analyst Bob Stevens stared at the screen in front of him and had to remember to close his mouth. He swallowed hard and routed the print command to his local printer. He couldn’t risk anybody stumbling upon his find before he picked it up, and he certainly didn’t dare it showing up in the server queue.
He waited while the pages printed then pulled them from the print tray. He thumbed through them and felt his chest tighten. “This can’t be right. Director Jameson will flip shit.” He shoved the pages into the file folder and clutched it tight to his breast. He stood slowly and peered over his cubicle, paranoia creeping upon him.
Stevens reached across his desk and picked up the other two file folders and wrapped the info he had just printed in between the others. For some reason he felt that if he could bury it, nobody else would be able to see it as he worked his way to the director’s office.
As he stepped off the elevator and worked his way around to the open area where the administrative assistant sat, Bob clutched the folders tighter. “I really need to see him.”
“He’s on a conference call.”
Bob stared at the door then back at the assistant. “I can wait.” His head bobbed up and down as he shakily sat in a chair.
“He may be a while.”
Bob stared, his eyes not really focusing. “This is important.” His hands automatically clutched the files tighter.
He had no idea how long he sat outside the office. He fought the urge to open the files and go back over the material that he had found, the information burned into his memory at this point. He vaguely remembered the administrative assistant raising her voice to get his attention.
“He’ll see you now.” She pointed to the door and Bob slowly stood.
He pushed the large mahogany door open and pulled it shut behind him, his mind racing as he closed the short gap to the man’s desk. “Did you find what I wanted?” Jameson didn’t even bother to look up as Bob stopped in front of him.
“Y-yes, sir. That…and more.” He placed the stack of file folders on his desk and stared at the man.
Jameson finally glanced up and noted the pale pallor of Stevens. “Good heavens. You look like you’re about to pass out.”
Bob Stevens swallowed hard and nodded. “I found something that…” He shook his head.
“Well, spit it out, man. Don’t just stand there.”
Bob pushed the short stack of files toward him. “It’s all in there.”
Jameson stared at the stack of folders as if Bob had just placed a flaming bag of dog shit on his desk. “You expect me to dig through all of that now? Just tell me.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
Stevens couldn’t find the words. “Do you have any idea what…what we’re…what they’re doing?”
“What who is doing? Make sense, man!” Jameson was beginning to lose his temper.
Bob reached into the pile and pulled the fresh printouts. He handed the file to the director and waited while the man opened it and perused the information. Jameson pursed his lips and slowly closed the file. “Where did you find this?”
“You told me to look at our own files. Not just theirs, but other agencies. I did. I found that.” He swallowed hard.
“How?” Jameson tossed the file onto the stack and stared at the analyst.
“How?” Stevens took a half step back. “You mean you already knew about that?”
“Of course I knew. I authorized it.” He sat forward and leaned across his desk. “Do you really think that we could discover that monsters were real and not actually do something about it?”
“B-but…they…I mean, the Monster Squad? They do something about it now. Why would we…I mean…”
“Why would we create a better monster hunter?” Jameson pushed his chair back from his desk and crossed his legs. He continued to stare at the analyst, watching as the wheels spun in the man’s mind. “Think about it, Stevens. Why would we allow monsters to hunt monsters? You read the reports. You know what they’re doing. They’re playing God. They’re deciding who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.”
“But, sir, even we have allies that you wouldn’t normally consider an ally.” He shook his head, his mind trying to wrap around the concept.
“True, but they’re human allies. Not monsters.” Jameson blew out a breath hard and eyed the analyst firmly. “We can’t allow the inmates to be running the asylum. The monsters cannot be policing the monsters.”
“But…to create…this?”
“This? This what? At least they’re human.” Jameson pulled the file from the stack and opened it. “Project Gladiator is a super soldier program that was shelved in the early Nineties. We simply revived it.”
“But, sir…genetically engineered humans?” Stevens’ mouth went dry as he tried to speak. “Are they human?”
“Of course they’re human, Stevens. They’re stronger, faster, smarter…and they aren’t monsters.” He narrowed his gaze at the smaller man. “They’re soldiers, and they’ll do what they’re ordered.”
“But—”
“No buts, Stevens.” Jameson shut the file and tossed it into his waste basket. “You never saw this information, do you understand me? You aren’t cleared
for this.”
“But, sir—”
“What did I just tell you?” Jameson glared at the man.
Stevens nodded. “Yes, sir, I never saw it. I know nothing about it.”
“Very good, Stevens.” Jameson waved him out. “I think you have a surveillance party to get ready for, don’t you?”
Stevens nodded. “Yes, sir.” He backed away slowly.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, son.”
17
Mitchell adjusted the chair he was in and continued to work the buttons on the arm of his chair. “Dammit! My kingdom for something that worked around here.”
Mark spun in his chair to face him. “Just give the word, sir.”
“It’s easier to do it myself, XO,” Mitchell huffed as he slumped back and crossed his arms. “Pull up the helmet cams from Sierra One. Run it side-by-side with the overhead from the bird.”
“Aye, sir.” Mark punched up the commands and nodded to the tech in the front row. “On my mark. Three, two, one, shift.” Both men switched the feeds and the dual view came up on the large screen above.
Mitchell watched as the live feed from Dom’s helmet camera played out in a green glow, the artificial night vision adjusting contrast much too rapidly as he moved within the trees. Mitchell leaned forward and tried to study the images. “Can you clean that up any?”
“Roger that, Colonel. On it.” The tech ran an algorithm that input best guesstimates for the fuzzy data, sharpening the image. “Best we can get, sir.”
“Very well.” He turned to Tufo, “Distance to the tangos?”
“About a quarter-click, sir. They’re slowly moving out to the flanks.”
“Feed that data to Dom and his crew. They need to be made aware.”
“Roger that.” Mark spun back to his console and began typing the data into his keyboard. “Update sent.”
Mitchell watched the screen as Sierra One paused and glanced at his ruggedized PDA. He punched a button and glanced at the screen. The coms snapped with static for just a moment then Dom’s voice filled the overhead speaker again. “On your toes, ladies. Spread out and contain.”
Mitchell watched the heat signatures begin to widen their spread and close the distance to the slowly moving dark targets. “Vulture, let’s drop altitude and prepare to provide support.”
“Copy that, OPCOM.” Jericho didn’t complain as Colonel Mitchell seemingly took over operational command. He half expected the man to step in once the team had closed the gap.
Dom’s helmet cam slowed, and his fist came up into the frame, indicating the squad should stop. For those within eyesight of him, they would pass on the order to those further out. Stopping the advance, he waited and listened, his ears straining to pick up anything out of the ordinary. He slowly turned his head and closed his eyes. His fist turned into two fingers and he pointed ahead and to his right. He stepped off in the general direction of the noise. “Advancing.”
Mitchell watched nervously as the group began moving again, slowly closing the gap. They should be making contact at any moment. He knew that once they did and the first of the vampires were dropped, the rest would scatter into the wind. With their speed advantage, he could only hope that the Predator could catch openings in the tree canopy to effectively stop the targets.
Dom crested a short rise, his barrel scanning left and right, his night vision scope lighting up the darkest of shadows. He stepped through a thin thicket and was suddenly thrust forward, a grey-white hand grasping his ankle from under the ground and pulling him backward, his forward momentum forcing him face first into the mossy floor of the woods. He grunted as he impacted the floor and tried to roll to the side to bring his attacker into view. The hand continued to pull, effectively pulling the owner up from the dark rich soil as it did so. Almost simultaneously, the other members of the squad swore epithets into their mics as their bodies impacted the earth.
“It’s a trap!” Dom leveled his barrel to where he assumed the owner of the arm would be and pumped a half dozen rounds into the soil, waiting for the arm to erupt into orange ash.
He reached for his silver-plated survival knife and thrust it as deeply into the shoulder attached to the offending arm as he could, watching with morbid satisfaction as the flesh immediately flashed into orange flame and ash rose from the soil, a depression forming where the body once lay.
Dom rolled to his side and brought the SCAR to his eye once more, scanning the surrounding area. “OPCOM, Second Actual! It’s a trap! They were waiting underground for us.”
Mitchell was up from his chair and staring at the satellite feed as the darkened figures converged on the squad, more and more ‘bodies’ appearing from nowhere and joining those moving en masse. “Good heavens…Vulture! Engage! Repeat, Vulture, engage targets!”
Jericho’s voice was stone as he responded, “Negative, Colonel. Tree canopy is too thick to engage tangos.”
Mitchell stepped down from his command platform and approached the big screen as dozens of dark figures turned into fifty, then into a hundred. “Oh, my God…”
*****
Jack sat as quietly as he could as he listened to Viktor play out his plan. He really didn’t want to listen, but if Lilith truly had hundreds of flunkies working for her at this place, he needed to know every bit that they did. “The two larger…beings should probably head straight to the roof when we get there. They can use the excuse of mounting the satellite dishes and running cables.”
Foster stared at the crude drawing of the old auto plant, his eyes studying the exits. “They have multiple guards at each entrance. We’ll have to keep them busy so that they don’t notice the…big guys.”
“The gargoyle and Nephilim.”
“All the more reason to keep them hidden until they’re needed. If Samael is truly with her, he may be able to sense the offspring of an angel.” Viktor held a level gaze on Jack, waiting for him to argue.
Jack merely nodded. “A smart precaution. No sense in tipping our hand.”
Viktor blew out a long breath and tapped the drawing. “There are numerous skylights across the ceiling where they can maintain watch. You can give them a sign that means to enter and bring the wrath of the giants with them.”
Jack nodded, his eyes studying the drawing. “I think the screaming and people bleeding will be a good enough sign.”
“This is no time for light hearted banter, Jack. We may need to all strike at once in order to save…to take down the demon Lilith.” Viktor eyed his son-in-law, waiting.
“Agreed. I’ll come up with something that isn’t too obvious.” He tapped the drawing. “What is this?”
Foster cleared his throat. “That is, what appears to be, an office of some sort. We saw the winged demon exit from there.”
“And you think this is their headquarters?”
Foster nodded. “It’s the only part of the warehouse that affords any privacy. We saw makeshift bunks set up on this far end here.” He pointed to the northern most part of the warehouse. “The equipment that was left appeared to be mothballed, but they were utilizing this area here. We couldn’t tell what they were doing.”
Jack gave him a skeptical glance. “Why not just move to another skylight and observe until you had a better idea what was going on?”
Foster sighed and shook his head. “Rufus wanted me to attempt to call Damien. When I did…the demon answered.”
“The demon answered?” Jack shrugged. “Why the hell would the demon answer?”
“I have a theory on that.” Viktor pulled a book from his satchel. “I relieved this from my…well, from a witch.” He flipped through pages then laid the book out. “For an angel to manifest on this plane, it must have a willing host. A body, if you will. I believe that the demon is actually an angel, and that it took Damien’s body.”
Jack fought off the urge to laugh. “Wait, a demon isn’t an angel. A demon is a twisted human soul. An angel is—”
“A fallen angel, Jack.�
�� Viktor flipped back through the book and tapped the page. “A third of the angels rebelled after the creation of man and were cast from Heaven. A fallen angel is still an angel.”
“So…you’re talking one of Lucifer’s minions?” Jack raised a brow.
“Technically, Satan gave up the title Lucifer when he fell. He was no longer the light bearer, but yes. One of the angels that fell with the bright and morning star.” Rather than explain angelic history, Viktor continued on. “If history and lore are correct, Samael was Lilith’s first lover. If I were to bet money, I would bet that the angel is he.”
“Okay…so we have this demon bitch, Lilith. We also have a fallen angel named Samael and a couple hundred minions that are most likely demons?” Jack shrugged. “No fucking problem. Nothing my tiny little band of warriors can’t handle.” He rolled his eyes and glanced at the group who stood and watched the exchange.
“Not a few hundred, Jack.” Viktor flipped through the book again and propped it open on a section that dealt with Lilith. “Samael promised her a legion of demons.”
“A legion?”
“One thousand.” Viktor closed the book and stared at him.
Jack felt his knees grow weak. “I knew I had a bad feeling about this when we left the city.” He leaned across the table and lowered his voice, “I did not bring these kids here to run some kind of suicide mission!”
“Nor did we.” Viktor placed the book back into his satchel and tapped the drawing. “The secret here is to find the lynchpin. That one target that, once it is dropped, the dominos fall with it.”
“Great. And how do we find that amongst a thousand demons?” Jack ground his teeth so hard that his jaw ticked.
Foster interjected, “It is either the angel or Lilith. It has to be. The angel promised the legion to her so he has authority over them. But she is recipient of the legion, so she has control. It has to be one or the other.”
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