by Caleb Meeks
The drive to Dominic’s house was peaceful. I passed people in suburban vehicles. Siblings throwing things at each other. Peaceful life. People who have no idea what’s going on right under their noses. Evil has always existed, but Abaddon brings forth a new wave of it.
I eventually pulled into Dominic’s driveway. The sun was just beginning to set, giving an eerie setting to the thoughts running through my head. I walked up and knocked on the door, trying not to draw too much attention.
He opened the door very quickly. “Come in.” I stepped into the house, and Dominic closed the door behind us. “Into the kitchen.” I listened and walked straight to the kitchen. “Lift your shirt, I want to check out your stitches.” I knew they were fine, but also knew it was wisest to let him have this one. “So, what happened out there?”
I did as he said, taking off my jacket and lifting my shirt so he could check it out. “His name was Brutus Ivanov. Some up and comer in the trafficking world. Nice guy, considering. Didn’t have the backbone to do what he needed to do thought.” He peeled the bandage off, which caused me to wince slightly.
“Sorry, looks mostly okay. You have a little blood leaking, but that’s probably just from the movement. I’m going to re-bandage it, just to make sure, but to looks like you took my advice. What happened? You shut him down?”
I laughed. “Not exactly.”
“I see. Doesn’t look like much of a struggle went on.” Dominic said, starting to apply the new bandage.
“No, he didn’t put up much of a fight. I didn’t exactly give him much of a choice, though. I don’t know what came over me, but after seeing what he was doing, I had a strong conviction that told me I shouldn’t leave him alive. So, I didn’t.”
Dominic finished changing the bandages. I dropped my shirt, and picked my jacket off the ground. “You sounded kind of bothered on the phone. I didn’t think killing this guy would affect you like this. Is something else going on?”
I inhaled briefly, to gather my thoughts. Dominic already knew something was up from his facial expression. “Yeah, something is going on. Something a little more serious than I had thought.”
Dominic leaned against the kitchen island, anxiously anticipating the news. “What does that mean, Judas?” He said, sounding concerned.
“It’s Abaddon, Dominic. I’ve been trying to push it off as much as I can in hopes that it might go away. That it might have all been false information. It’s not, and it’s getting worse.”
“What happened out there that sparked this?”
“He’s recruiting. The guards at this facility knew about him because he was trying to recruit some of them. He’s already being revered as the one who’s going to take me down, and given our past history, I think that’s exactly what he’s going to do. I know that I’m not normally like this, but after what happened four years ago, I thought I was done dealing with him.” I paused to catch my breath. Dominic didn’t say a word, he just stood there, contemplating everything I’d said. “I’m scared, Dom.”
That caught his attention. Words I’ve never said in my entire life. He walked over and gripped my arms, looking me right in the eyes. “I know you are scared. I am terrified. But Judas, you cannot let this take you down. You know full well what this guy does to people. He gets inside their heads and gets them to believe they are weaker than they are. You dealt with him once, and you’re going to do it again. I know it’s scary, I know it is, but you can handle this, as long as you don’t let him tell you that you can’t.” I’ve never seen Dominic speak so openly, but it settled the churning in my stomach.
“You’re right.”
“What’s the plan?” He asked, taking his hands off my arms.
“I don’t know. But right now, going about business as usual is not going to be enough. I just don’t know where to start.”
“Well, when you figure it out, I’ll be right behind you.” I nodded.
I was just about to inhale to speak, but then my phone rang. Dominic and I both locked eyes, fearful of what the call could be. I pulled out my phone.
“Hello?” I said, puffing out my chest in an effort to make myself feel as confident as I wanted to appear.
Chapter Nine.
For a moment, all I could hear on the other end of the phone was steady breathing. Dominic looked at me, and I could see the tension building in his eyes. “What are they saying?” He mouthed.
“Nothing. It’s just breathing.” I mouthed back. The part that concerned me the most was that my phone number is not easily accessible. Most would just write this off as a prank call, maybe even just a wrong number, but there aren’t a lot of those in my line of work. “Hello?” I asked again, this time with a little more force.
The voice on the other end must have gotten the picture, because there was one sharp inhale, then finally speech. “I apologize for keeping you waiting, I was just in shock to actually be talking to you.” The voice sounded achy. Almost like it pained the person to be speaking to me.
“Who is this?” I asked, forcefully again.
“A big fan.” The breathy voice replied.
“Yeah, I’ve got a few of those these days. I would appreciate it if you did not waste my time, so I ask again, who are you?”
“My name is Jonathan Bay.” The name didn’t bring anyone to mind, which struck me as odd. Most people who have the power to get my phone number are people I recognize.
“Alright, Jonathan, how is it that you got this phone number?”
The man seemed amused by the question. “Judas, that isn’t important right now. What is important is that I have information you want. It could be greatly beneficial to you in your current situation.”
“What situation is that?” I asked, trying to glean as much information from this mystery caller as I could before he would inevitably hang up on me.
“We both know exactly what’s happening. Someone’s back.” The voice was right, I do know exactly what’s happening. The words someone’s back sent chills crawling from my ear, down to my feet.
“I would ask more trivial questions, but I gather you’d continue down this path of veiled answers.”
A slight chuckle greeted my statement. “There’s a warehouse on 12th and Graham. Get there as quickly as you can.” As anticipated, the caller then hung up. No caller ID, no phone number, nothing. It was like a ghost had called me.
“What was that?” Dominic asked, concern bubbling out of the words.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know how they got my phone number. All I know is that it was someone named Jonathan Bay, and I’m supposed to get down to a warehouse on 12th and Graham as soon as I can.”
“Well you’re not gonna’ go, are you?”
“He said he knew that someone was coming back.”
The color in Dominic’s face flushed. We both knew what it meant, but neither of us wanted to speak it out loud. “Okay, I’m coming with you at the very least.”
“Let’s go.” I didn’t want to put Dominic in the danger that this entailed, but I knew he wouldn’t let me do otherwise. And honestly, I could use the support that his presence brought.
I grabbed my jacket off the table, slipped it on, and headed out the door. Dominic followed closely behind. I stepped into the car while he locked his house. Everything going on had settled into my mind in an eerie numbness. Like I was completely aware of what was going on, but was unsure how to react, so I didn’t. Dominic quickly finished what he was doing and climbed into the seat beside me.
The sun was practically gone, which meant Dominic’s street was shrouded in darkness. The only light came from my car’s headlights, and the widely spaced out streetlamps. It felt like something straight out of a movie.
▪
Leo Cadman sat in his office, which had practically become his home over the past couple weeks. Almost everyone else had left for the night. A few night owls were sitting at their desks, and a janitor was cleaning the floors, but the hectic action had settled.
> It was one of those nights where he was painfully tempted to dip into a tall bottle of whiskey, just to make the noise in his mind be quiet. Even just for a moment. This case had found a way to worm itself into his very being. It was all he could think about, and it didn’t help that it was a slap in the face to the police force, since they didn’t have anything on it.
He sat there, encompassed by the case files he’d read through far too many times, trying to figure out his next step. Each time he hoped something new would jump out at him, but nothing ever did. All he could hear was the humming from the lights in the hallway. It was starting to drive him insane. That’s when Matthew walked down the hallway, peeking his head into the room.
“Boss?” The man asked.
Cadman looked up from his zoned-out state. “Yeah, what’s up?”
Newman stepped into the office. “Sorry to bother you, but I just got a call that I wanted to run by you.”
Cadman stood up, immediately intrigued by Newman’s concern in his tone. “What was it about?”
“I don’t know, really. They gave the name Jonathan Bay, but I ran it through the system and there’s far too many to sort through. It sounded like a man, but it was really breathy and distorted, so I don’t know. All they said was that there was something down at the old warehouse on 12th and Graham that we need to be there for. I’d write it off as prank call, but he called my personal phone. He knew my name, Leo.”
Cadman looked just as concerned as Newman. “Wow, okay.”
“Yeah.” Newman said. “Are we going to go down there?”
“Normally I’d say probably not, but given the current circumstances, I think we should. We shouldn’t go alone though. I’ll try and round up a few squad cars to come with us.”
“Ok. Sounds good.” Newman said, turning around to walk out of Cadman’s office.
“Hey, Matt?” Cadman called.
Newman immediately flipped around. “Do you like wearing the standard issue blue officer outfit?” He asked, inquiring about the bright blue outfit Newman had become accustomed to wearing.
“Not really, but it’s standard issue. They said I had to wear it whenever I was on duty.”
“Do you have a change of clothes here?”
“Yeah, I keep one here, just in case.” Newman answered.
“Go change. No sense in you being uncomfortable all the time while you’re not even doing what your job description is. Normally you would be required to wear it, but since you’re on such a specialized case, I can make an exception. It makes you stand out a little less, too. I’ll gather up some people, then I’ll meet you in the car our front.”
“Great. I’ll meet you out there.”
▪
Dominic and I drove down the dark roads in silence. Both of us were in different headspaces, but also centered on the same thing. Our worlds were about to come apart, and there was nothing we could do about it. This meeting was a bad idea, but given how everything was going right now, I couldn’t go about anything like I used to. The meeting could very well have been a set up, but on the off chance that it wasn’t, it could be something valuable for the war that Dominic and I both knew was coming.
The warehouse we were heading to was another classic cliché, but it was a little more industrial. Some kind of old, run down storage facility. Dominic knew the area better than me, only because he used to live around it.
“There it is.” Dominic said, remarking at the sterile white building ahead of us. It, unlike some of the other locations I’d been in, did not look like the kind of place crime went on in. Props to Jonathan Bay for that, at least. At first glance, it didn’t look like anyone was there, but that was just at first glance.
I pulled into the back of the building, far enough back that the building’s lights didn’t shed any light on the vehicle. The dark color of the car blended into the shadows. Exactly what I wanted. We both stepped out of the car and looked each other in the eyes, exchanging a similar sense of anxious curiosity. I pushed any residual fear away, and focused on the task at hand.
We slowly approached the building, making sure to be aware of everything around us. Flashbacks of meetings much like this drifted through my mind, bringing back some bloody memories. As we approached, however, I noticed a rustling in the building. It didn’t sound like people talking, but like someone digging through boxes. Once we walked in, we saw a young kid sitting on the ground. His phone was in his lap, earbuds were in, and had a skateboard next to him.
I walked up to him, but he didn’t notice me until I was standing just in front of him. Once he saw my feet, however, he jolted backwards. His phone landed on the ground next to him. “Dude, what do you want?” He swallowed hard, but tried to remain as confident as he could.
“I am asking you to leave. It’s in your best interest that you listen.”
“Yeah, and why would I do that? I’m just minding my own business here. Why should I listen to you?”
“Because, I asked. Nicely. And that is not a courtesy many receive. You’d be wise to accept the offer.”
“What offer would that be?”
“The offer that you get to walk out of here, alive.” He thought through my words very quickly, then grabbed his phone and skateboard, and ran out of the building.
“Nicely done.” Dominic applauded. “Would you actually have killed him?”
“I knew I wouldn’t have to.”
“Fair enough. So, what are we looking for?”
I shook my head blankly. “You know as much as I know. I’m going to go check out the rest of the building.”
“Okay, I’ll wait here and find you if I see anything.” He said. I nodded, then turned towards the door at the far end of the room.
I walked through the door to the main warehouse. It was full of broken boxes and pails, all covered with graffiti. A few cigarettes and beer bottles were littered on the floor. Still though, no one seemed to be here. I was beginning to wonder whether or not someone was actually coming, but that’s when I heard voices coming from the front of the building.
I peered out the front window, and low and behold, there was one SUV accompanied by four police cars that had just stopped in the front. The two men in the SUV had stepped out and were seemingly discussing their plan for entering, based purely on the hand gestures. I quickly walked out of the room just as they were about to enter, and walked back into the room I had left Dominic in. I walked in and as he opened his mouth to ask me what was wrong, I placed my finger over my lips.
“What is it?” He mouthed to me.
“Police.” I whispered back. He quizzically scrunched his eyebrows, looking for some kind of explanation. I shrugged, unable to give him one. We were both trapped in a small back closet compared to the rest of the building. Avoiding casualties was the number one priority. Killing bad guys was one thing, but killing police was another thing altogether. In a quick judgement call, I quietly pulled the key to my car out of the pocket and handed them to Dominic. “Go out to the car and be ready to get us out of here.” I watched the urge to argue travel across his face, but he ultimately just nodded and headed out to the car. It’s nice to have him around, but he doesn’t exactly have the practical experience that I have in these kinds of situations.
Just as he was getting into the cover of the dark with the car, an officer walked into the room with me. His gun was pointing straight out from him. He rounded the corner and saw me, but I didn’t give him enough time to react. I kicked him up against the wall and pounded his head into wall. It wasn’t the quietest method, but it was functional enough. Unfortunately, he had an officer just behind him who rounded the corner right as I was beating his fellow officer’s head in to the wall. He had enough time to pull the trigger of his gun, which of course sent everyone in the building a blaring indicator of my presence. The shot he fired just missed my back. I pulled my gun out and fired a single round into the soft part of his leg before he could get another shot off. The second shot sent the group scatter
ing throughout the room.
I made the decision to round the corner both of the officers came around. It gave me clear vision into who was here. In total there were six officers, plus the two men in the SUV. With the two officers behind me down, that left just a grand total of six more officers. Easy.
Two more officers ran toward the gun fire, and consequently, me. I was able to holster my gun and place myself in the right place before they noticed me. Both noticed me at the same time, but it was too late for them to really react. I reached up and grabbed both of them by the throat. I could see the fear and regret in their eyes for a brief moment. I slammed both of them down on the ground, unconscious. Four left.
I walked into a more open area and another officer, this time alone, charged into the room. He raised his gun and fired a shot, but it missed and spiraled into a box behind me. I kicked the gun out of his hand before he could get another shot off. It landed across the room from us. He quickly recovered and threw a punch, just managing to graze the bandaged side of my body. It stung, but I didn’t have the time to react to the pain. While he was low from throwing the punch, I lifted my leg and drop kicked him to the ground. He was still just barely conscious, so I landed another kick along his spine, which finally knocked him unconscious. That left just one officer and the two men who weren’t in uniform.
I didn’t have eyes or ears on any of them yet. They had probably reverted their panic to silence. A wise move, given their quickly dwindling numbers.
I was just planning what I was going to do next when the three remaining men burst through the double doors in front of me. The two men who were out of uniform were immediately taken aback. They had their guns drawn, but once they caught a glimpse of me, it was like they had just frozen. It didn’t last long though, they looked to each other quickly, then re-focused on me. In the brief moment they spent in disbelief, I pulled out my gun. The officer in uniform did not stop when the other two did, which meant he was closing in quickly. Why he hadn’t pulled the trigger on his gun, I don’t know, but I quickly kicked the gun out of his hand and landed another solid kick right to his sternum. It was enough to knock the wind from him, and he fell back into a metal shelf behind him. He would be fine, but wouldn’t be getting back up before I was long gone.