The Cave

by Tom Clarke

  Frantically looking around Jim finally saw his wife who had crawled, with the teenage girl, behind a piece of farm equipment. Shelly gave a thumbs-up sign and then ducked down behind her spot of cover.

  Jim then turned his attention to Darrel, who was still rocking around in the dirt. Crawling as quickly as he could Jim got to his friend, laid across the top of him, and then unloaded the entire 30-round magazine from his rifle into Alan.

  Rolling to his side Jim shot two of the men in brown suits, grabbed Darrel, by his belt, and started dragging him out of the fracas and to cover.

  As Jim pulled him to safety Darrel reached up, grabbed him by the arm and yelled, “The ravens, they told me the truth!”

  Looking back in the direction they had just come from Jim realized that the pack with the stone I it was still sitting on the ground where Darrel had dropped it. “The ravens, they told me the truth!” Darrel yelled as Jim swept his hand off his arm and started moving back out to recover the pack.

  Before Jim could reach the pack, Nico picked it up, slipped his arms through the straps and slung it across his back. He looked at Jim and yelled, “Darrel will be fine. I’m sorry Jim! You know what to do!”

  Just then Alan, who had transformed into a large wolf lunged forward and grabbed Nico by the side. Yelling in pain Nico plunged his short-sword into the wolf and pulled himself into the monster as far as he could. “Jim! Now Jim, now!”

  Jim took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry brother” as he leveled his rifle and fired two rounds at the backpack that Nico was wearing.

  Everything seemed to slow, he could no longer hear the chaos unfolding around him. All he could focus on was the muzzle flash at the end of his rifle and then the explosion as his rounds found their mark, detonating the Tannerite bomb in the pack with the stone tablet.

  Jim had attached the largest of their IED’s to the stone tablet in the back pack. The resulting explosion was significant, blowing a large cloud of dust and debris into the immediate area. The sound of the explosion drowned everything else out and left Jim’s ears ringing. The shock wave had knocked him back, it was a miracle that he had not been shredded by shrapnel in the form of small pieces of rock and gravel.

  As the dust and smoke cleared, Jim slowly raised himself to his knees, and then to his feet, scanning the area with his rifle as he did. Shaking off the concussive effects of the blast he started looking around for Nico, but instead saw the remaining men in the brown suits convulsing and rolling round on the ground. One by one they began to scream, or try to scream, and then gasp for breath as every muscle in their body tensed, and then stopped moving.

  Looking over to where his wife had taken cover Jim saw Shelly coughing and waving dust away from her and the child she was shielding.

  As Jim stepped forward, he saw Thor and the men who had arrived on the motorcycles running towards their waiting bikes. Thor turned and waved at Jim, then got on the back of one of the motorcycles. Jim just nodded and shook his head as they sped away.

  Standing at the edge of the blast point where the detonation had taken place Jim looked and saw no sign of Nico, Alan, or the stone tablet. There were no body parts, pieces of charred clothing, nothing. It was if they had just disappeared.

  Surveying their little battlefield Jim focused on his SUV. All the windows had been blown out and it was riddled with bullet holes. “All the tires are still inflated” Shelly said as she put a hand on Jim’s shoulder.

  Jim turned and hugged his wife, “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice cracking.

  “Yeah” Shelly replied, tears running down her face. “Where’s Nico?”

  “I don’t know,” Jim replied.

  “Jim, she tried to make me think that you were going to kill me” Shelly said looking down at Sarah’s body.

  Jim turned and looked at Shelly, who was just staring at Sarah’s headless corpse.

  At that point Shelly completely broke down. Everything she had been through all came crashing home at once, and it was too much for her to keep in. “I’m sorry Jim, I believed her for a while. I’m so sorry.”

  “Holy shit!” Jim exclaimed, pointing to the open field. “Look, Shelly, Look, there in the field.”

  Shelly pulled her head off her husband's shoulder and looked up, wiping tears from her eyes. Standing in the field she saw Sarah holding hands with a young girl, both smiling. As Jim and Shelly watched the young girl, who until now had been appearing with a knife stabbed into her chest, hugged her mother, Sarah, as they faded from view.

  Watching in amazement, the moment was shattered when Darrel yelled, “Jim! Jim, the ravens. Jim the ravens told me the truth!”

  “Easy” Jim said as he helped Darrel to his knees. “Look at me, are you okay?”

  Looking up at the sky a fog started to clear from Darrel’s eyes. His breathing began to return to normal and was again in control of his body movements. “Yeah, I think so. Jesus, Jim, what the hell happened? The last thing I remember clearly is covering you and Nico at that cave.”

  “You don’t remember anything else?” Jim asked.

  “No, I mean sort of, it’s like a dream. I remember it all but just not clearly. I do remember that I was on that rock outcropping and then all the sudden there were all these ravens flying around. A big one right by me, then two more. I was getting ready to take a swat at them and then they started screeching and, and.”

  Darrel reached up and touched his face. He winced in pain as he touched all the cuts on his face left by the ravens pecking at him. “They attacked me! Those fucking buzzards were pecking me all over my face. They…. Jim, I remember! They were talking to me! I blacked out, but I was still there. Those three birds were chanting and then they told me that Nico was working with Alan and that the stone in the cave was not the right one. This whole thing was an elaborate set-up to get us to take out Tyler and then destroy the stone!”

  “Well, we did just that” Jim replied with a heavy sigh. “I think I may have killed Nico in the process. He pretty much admitted to killing those people at the safe house as well as planting the bomb that blew up at the Vatican.”

  As Jim helped Darrel to his feet the young girl he had rescued from the church came running over and hugged Darrel as hard as she could.

  An explosion from the main house at the compound brought everyone back to reality. “Come on, let's get the hell out of here!” Jim said, looking at the developing smoke coming from the building.

  “What about your rig?” Darrel said. “Looks like it’s seen better days brother.”

  “Fuck it!” Jim said. “I’ll report it stolen when we get back home. I saw some vehicles near the front, let’s go nab one of them.”

  After recovering what was left of their gear from Jim’s SUV Darrel, Shelly, and the young girl started heading for the front of the compound. Jim stopped, and took one last look around for Nico. Standing there, alone, he looked into a dark corner at the back of the building. Slowly a set of eyes and then the face of a large black wolf began to materialize.

  Jim didn’t raise his rifle or yell for help from Darrel. He just stood there and looked at the face as it began to smile showing a mouth full of jagged yellowish teeth. “Soon Jimmy” the face said in a hollow voice. “Soon.”

  Jim rolled his shoulders forward, slightly cocked his head to the side, and smiled back at the darkness, “Sooner than you know” he replied. As the face slowly, dissipated Jim turned and ran to catch up with Darrel and Shelly.

  18.

  Home

  After a couple days of driving Jim, Shelly, Darrel, and the girl turned onto the road that led to the driveway of Jim’s house.

  As they moved along the road, Jim noticed two large black SUV’s parked in the driveway. He could also see a couple of men in expensive suits; the bulges under their arms an indication that they were carrying large frame firearms concealed under their suit coats.

  Jim looked at Darrel, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. “Rifles in the back”
Darrel said as he produced a .40 caliber Glock handgun from his waistband. Dropping the magazine Darrel looked at how many rounds were left and then quickly reseated it back into the gun. “What do you think, FBI?” Darrel asked as he hit the bottom of the handgun magazine.

  “Fucking shit never ends! Shelly, you and the kid lay down on the back seat” Jim said as he produced his own handgun and then retrieved a spare magazine from the glove box.

  “Well, let’s go see what they want.” Jim said.

  Jim and Darrel got out of the SUV, both men had their pistols in their hands. As they approached the front of Jim’s house they started moving apart from each other so that if there was shooting they would not make one big target.

  Closing in on the front of his house Jim noted that neither of the men in the dark colored suits moved, or even acknowledged their presence. “Gentlemen, care to tell me what you’re doing standing on my front porch?” Jim asked as he approached the two.

  “They’re with me” an accented voice came from the side of the house. “I hope you don’t mind Mr. Richards, I was just admiring your backyard and deck.”

  Jim looked on as an older, olive skinned man with gray hair, wearing a dark suit, and a Roman collar distinguishing him as a member of the clergy, came walking around the side of his house.

  “Stop right there!” Darrel barked. “Hands up. Lift your jacket so we can see your belt line and slowly turn around in a complete circle!”

  “Of course,” the priest replied as he lifted his jacket and slowly turned in a complete circle.

  Darrel moved in behind the priest as Jim maintained an angle on the two men in front of the porch.

  “Put your hands on your head, interlace your fingers!” Darrel said as he approached the priest from behind.

  The older priest gently smiled, “Of course, my son.”

  Once his hands were on the top of his head Darrel holstered his handgun, stepped in, and grabbed the priest by his interlaced fingers. As soon as he touched the priest the two men on the porch started to turn towards Darrel.

  “You two move again and I will drop you where you stand!” Jim yelled.

  The priest nodded for the men to stay where they were, “It’s okay, they are just being cautious, which, after what they have been through no none can blame them for. My son, I have identification in my front right pocket.”

  While keeping a control hold on the priest Darrel patted him down. Not finding any weapons he removed the ID card from his front pocket. “He’s clean Jimmy” Darrel said, releasing his grip, stepping back, and again drawing his handgun.

  Jim took a step closer to the two men standing guard by the front door. “Fellas, I know that you guys are armed. I also know that you’re wearing some nice threads so I’m not going to prone you out. I would, however, very much appreciate it if you both just took a seat and kept your hands on your knees. Either of you try to unbutton your jacket or get a hand on your gun and it will be the last thing you do.”

  Again, the two men looked at the priest who smiled and nodded. Both men then sat down and complied with Jim’s instructions.

  “Thank you” Jim said. “Now, who are you and what are you doing at my home?”

  Looking at the ID card he removed Darrel said, “He’s from the Vatican Jimmy. I’m not even gonna try and pronounce his name, but he’s another church guy.”

  Jim shook his head, “What do you want?”

  “Mr. Richards, may I call you Jim?” The priest asked.

  “Sure” Jim replied.

  “Thank you, and please call me David. Jim, I have a couple of my associates inside your home performing an exorcism of sorts to remove the blight that was placed on your home.”

  Jim looked at the older priest. There was something familiar about him, calming, almost grandfatherly. He just couldn’t put his finger on it, but he did not feel the need for his handgun to be out anymore.

  “You think they can do some dishes for me while they’re in there? I haven’t been home in a few days” Jim said as he holstered his handgun.

  “Ha! Yes, I can ask them” David replied with a gentle smile on his face. “Jim, I’m here because you and your family have become involved in something, shall we say, rather significant.”

  “That’s putting it mildly!” Darrel said as he too holstered his handgun.

  David just nodded and smiled. “I know that you know of these things, and I also know what you have been through these past months, and especially the past week. For this I am very sorry, Jim. I truly am.”

  Jim nodded as he looked back at the SUV where Shelly was now sitting up to try and see what was going on. “Yeah, well what do you want other than to apologize and clean my carpets?”

  “She can come and join us if you like” David said, waving at Shelly and the young girl in the SUV. “It’s perfectly safe.”

  Jim looked over at Darrel who just shrugged. He then waved for Shelly and her young charge to come on up and join them.

  As Shelly and the girl walked up David greeted them, “Mrs. Richards, it is my deepest honor to meet you. Please, call me David.”

  David then knelt so that he was at eye level with the young girl. He reached out and brushed her hair from her face. “Blessed are the children” he said standing. The young girl just smiled from ear to ear as she held Shelly’s hand.

  “My friends” David said, “I don’t have all the answers, but I will try and fill in any gaps you may have. First, the men who came to your home and assaulted your wife, they were members of a Russian crime group based in Saint Petersburg. Their specialty was the theft and resale of religious artifacts. In fact, they were serving time in a prison when they disappeared. We had assumed that they had escaped.”

  “And who, exactly is we?” Jim asked.

  “I am associated with the intelligence arm of the Swiss Guard” David replied. “For obvious reasons we do our best to keep tabs on people like that.”

  “Swiss Guard” Jim said looking at Darrel.

  “Yes” David replied sensing some tension from Jim and Darrel. “The same Swiss Guard that Nico was with. It turns out that one of the relics that these men had stolen was a stone that allowed them to be influenced by the one you know as Alan.”

  “So, Alan helped them escape?” Shelly asked.

  “No, not exactly” David said. “We think he had them arrested and sent to that prison with the intention of recruiting. You see, he has a network of human collaborators, mostly hard-core criminals, that are working with him. Some are under his influence while others are working for the promises of money and power. The two that came here were under his influence, possessed if you will.”

  “That’s why that dude got up and started talking after being dead. Explains a lot actually.” Darrel said

  “Yeah” Jim replied. “We know that they like to use drug abusers. That’s most career criminals, drug users and addicts. So, tell me what happened to Tyler?”

  “Yes, poor Tyler” said David as he shook his head. “From what we can tell Tyler got addicted to pills and then let someone video him doing inappropriate things with an underage girl. Our sources tell me that he went to meet an unknown blackmailer and was killed. That beast took his place.”

  “I don’t get it” Darrel said. “If they were going to just take him out why go through all the other nonsense? Why not just grab him and do their thing?”

  David let out a long sigh, “Friends, these demons are very smart. They have plans and schemes on top of each other. I would imagine that they did that, so they would have leverage in case there was a change in their plans. They are very adept at deception, Jim, I believe you would call it smoke and mirrors. They have an end game which they have been working towards since well before the birth of Christ.”

  Jim turned and looked away from David, put his hand on Shelly’s shoulder and asked, “And Nico?”

  “Ah, Nico” David replied in a very somber tone. “Nico is complicated. He chose to tell you who he really is
in direct defiance of his orders I would add.”

  Jim turned and looked at David, “Who he is, or who he was?”

  Sensing Jim’s pain David approached and put a hand on his arm, “Jim, Nico was a solider in the Roman army. He was sick, his eye sight failing, and his body was breaking down. The one you know as Alan, whose true name I shall not utter, took advantage of this. He tricked Nico into stabbing our Lord Jesus Christ with the spear while he was on the cross.”

  “What the hell are you talking about!” Shelly blurted out.

  Jim looked at his wife and nodded his head as David continued, “Once that happened Nico’s part in this was sealed. He believes he was cursed, the truth is that our lord gave him a gift. The gift of immortality, it was how he chose to use his gift that would decide when he would be welcomed home.”