CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
After a few days rest Ryan and Maria departed San Diego for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio as it is called is the largest city in Brazil and destroying the gate to hell will be difficult due to its location being close to the giant statue of Christ. The terrain will be difficult to climb, while there is easy access to the statue, the rest of the mountain is very hard to climb. It will be tougher having to carry all the weapons that Ryan thinks they will need, and locating the gate will be the toughest if it on the side of the mountain.
They left San Diego and the flight took them fourteen hours. They checked into the hotel and the rental company already had their Expedition waiting at the hotel for them. The delivery company had already delivered their crates and they were waiting in their room. They made the decision to become tourists for the day and take a tour to the statue of Christ.
The next morning they rose late for them being the time was close to eight in the morning. They stopped for breakfast and then headed for the train that would take them to the top of Mount Corcovado where the statue of Christ was. Maria had her camera and Ryan had the binoculars. Ryan planned on scanning the mountain on the train ride to the top.
They arrived at the train station and it was close to ten in the morning and they purchased their tickets. The next train was at ten fifteen so they would not have long to wait. The train pulled into the station and they boarded making sure to get a window seat. The train pulled out right on schedule at ten fifteen. The ride to the top of the mountain would take twenty five minutes and it gave Ryan a good view of the western slope. The ride up was at a relatively slow speed providing Ryan plenty of time to scan the western slope.
When they reached the top they got off the train and Ryan told Maria that he did not see anything at all on the ride up. Ryan walked around the statue and carefully scanned the eastern slope and again came up empty as was the northern and southern slopes. Ryan walked back to Maria and said, “Well the gate is definitely not on Corcovado mountain. There are some valley’s that I can’t get a real good look at but I can see far enough to say the gate isn’t in them.”
“Well we are far enough up that we should be able to see it somewhere in the city.”
“That’s true and info you got says it is near the statue.”
Ryan started scanning the city and country, though Ryan’s binoculars gave him a pretty wide view it was still going to take a long time to view three hundred sixty degrees. Ryan started on the north side and slowly moved west. When Ryan had covered all of the city from the north to the west north west he started to see Sugarloaf mountain, He thought he spotted some movement about three quarters of the way up the side of Sugarloaf mountain.
Ryan continued to scan the mountain and was about ready to move past when he caught the movement again. Ryan moved the binoculars back to his right and he spotted the movement again. Ryan concentrated on the area around the what he thought was movement when he spotted a hell hound on a ledge on the mountain side.
Ryan took out a pen and marked the hand rail with an arrow pointing to Sugarloaf mountain. He walked over to where Maria was taking pictures and he told her he found the gate and that it was on the mountain sitting out in the bay. Maria walked over with Ryan to where he had marked the hand rail. Maria looked thru the binoculars and was about to ask Ryan if he had been seeing things when she spotted the Hell hound.
“Babe, I’ve got a question, how come I can see them, Up until about a month ago I couldn’t see then as demons and I couldn’t see the first hell hound?”
“I can’t answer that, we will have to ask Gabriel the next time we speak with him, but I’m glad you can see them.”
“The mountain looks pretty shear How are we going to get to the gate?”
“Another question I can’t answer right now but I’ll bet I’ll need climbing gear.”
“I didn’t know you could climb like that.”
“I never have tried it before so I just have to be a quick learner.”
“Are you crazy, you can’t do that.”
“Crazy yes and you should by now I never say can’t.”
“I just don’t know.”
“Trust me babe, I can do it. Let’s see if we can get closer to the mountain.”
The two of then caught the next train down Mount Corcovado and got into their SUV and headed for Sugarloaf mountain. They had covered about half the distance when Maria saw a sign that said tram rides to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. They followed the sigh and found it was really cable car rides, not t hat it really mattered. They parked the SUV and they walked up to the ticket window, the last ride up and back left at four thirty and they took that ride.
On the ride up Ryan watched and saw that they went right over the top of the gate and Ryan could see right inside the gate. Ryan thought that he might be able to drop a bag of C-4 right down the throat of the gate, it looked like it would be a straight down drop. The problem would be riding out the blast from the C-4.
Once they reached the top they got off the ride and were told they could stay until the next car arrived. Ryan calculated the time it took form where he would drop the bag and the time on the top and the ride back down and came up with forty minutes. That would be a long time if the hounds or demons spotted the bag before it blew.
They got on the next car for the ride back down and rode the tram back to the bottom where they got into their SUV and headed back to the hotel. On the ride down Ryan explained about the time and he wondered if it might be too long. They would be vulnerable to attack by the demons.
Once back in the hotel Maria plugged her camera into the laptop and downloaded the pictures she had taken and Ryan got out a map of Rio and was examining it. Ryan was coming up with a plan when Maria called out to him.
“Babe come here and look at this.”
Ryan walked over to the back of the couch and leaned down and gave Maria a kiss on the neck and then looked at the picture that was on the screen. Maria had turned on the range finder option on her camera and it was showing the distance between mountains was only a mile and a half, This was giving Ryan a different idea. He could use the middle of the tracks going up to the statue using the missile launcher.
Ryan explained the idea to Maria and she liked it a lot better than dropping the C-4 from the trolley. It most likely would have to shot at night after everyone was gone from the statue. They would need to scout the area tonight and see when it is not busy with people.
That evening they drove back to the base of Corcovado mountain, it was past ten and it was just as busy as it was at ten in the morning. Ryan and Maria decided to grab some food and wait around until midnight.
At midnight they walked back to the base of the mountain and they were surprised at how busy it still was. The idea of using the missile launcher from this mountain was not going to be a good idea. Maybe they could find another point in the Tijuca Forest National Park that has a good view of Sugarloaf mountain.
The next day Ryan and Maria took the tour thru the Tijuca Forest National Park, and Ryan was amazed at the number of peaks that had a clear view of Sugarloaf mountain. Now it was just finding the right one that had a shot for the missiles.
Ryan asked what time the park closed and he was told the closed at eleven at night, Ryan liked that idea he would have access after that. He marked the trail that he would need to take to get to the peak with the best shot. They went back to the hotel so that Ryan could gather the launcher and the missiles.
When they arrived back at the hotel Ryan opened the crate with the launcher and he took five missiles out. He loaded the missiles into his large backpack. He also grabbed his spotters scope.
They waited until midnight and left for the park. When they arrived Ryan easily cleared the fence that was meant to keep people out of the forest. Ryan told Maria to stay with SUV incase it would need to be move to prevent anyone from getting suspicious and start looking around the park. Ryan found the mark he had made to identify the trail. He started m
aking the climb to the peak. It was slow going as Ryan was carrying an extra one hundred fifty pounds. Ryan finally made it to the top and removed all of the items from his backpack and loaded the launcher.
Ryan took his spotters scope and checked the gate on Sugarloaf mountain. He had a clear view of the gate and saw that there was one hell hound guarding the outside of the gate. Ryan checked the wind and distance and picked up the launcher and took aim on the gate. Ryan fired the first missile and followed it to the gate. When it hit, it missed the gate by less than a foot. He reloaded and took aim again.
Ryan fired the second missile and it flew straight towards the gate, As Ryan watched the missile travel towards the gate he spotted a group of demons flying as fast as they could to the missile. The demons came from above and behind his position, Ryan started to check above him to see if the trail of the missiles gave his position away. Convinced that there were no demons he turned back to follow the missile and he watched as it hit the gate. The missile flew into the gate and exploded somewhere inside the gate.
After the dust and rocks cleared away Ryan saw the gate was still there. Just as Ryan sent the missile on its way he spotted the largest cloud he had ever seen. Ryan realized it wasn’t a cloud but a large group of demons and several of them turned to see where the missile had come from. Ryan grabbed the backpack and the launcher and slid back into the trees. The demons flew in and landed on the ledge that Ryan had just been on. The demons were talking to each other and this was the first time that Ryan could not understand what they were saying. One of the demons kept pointing to the spot that Ryan was hiding. He didn’t have any other guns with him so if they came at him he would have to fight hand to hand as there was no room to use the sword.
The demons appeared to be arguing about what to do, one wanted to go into the trees and the rest of them wanted to go to the gate. The majority won and the group of demons took off and headed towards the gate. Ryan waited until he was sure that it was safe to come out. He belly crawled back to the ledge and got out the binoculars and looked across to the gate and Ryan could see the missiles had no effect on the gate, and the number of demons was enormous. Ryan wouldn’t bet any money but he guessed that there were more than six or seven thousand demons at the gate.
Ryan knew there was no way he could fight that many demons no matter what kind of weapons he had. Ryan figured that his only hope would be a drop of the C-4 into the gate. Ryan crawled back off of the ledge and made his way back down to the fence that he jumped when he came in and Maria was right where he had left her.
“Babe you’re not going to believe this but I’ll bet there are over six or seven thousand demons up there now and the missiles had no effect on the gate.”
“That’s not a good thing. How are you going to destroy the gate now?”
“I think it is going to be back to the first plan of dropping the bag of C-4 from the cable car.”
“You’re not going to like this either, I am going alone and set the timer for about fifteen seconds. I can get out of the cable car by myself if I have to but I can stay on the top until they can get the cars running again.”
“Your right I don’t like that option at all.”
“I really don’t see much of an option.”
“I’m really concerned about how safe it will be.”
“I’ll set the timer so it goes off after I reach the top, I should be ok up there.”
“When do you want to do it?”
“I think the midday tram ride.”
“Then get a good night’s sleep tonight.”
“Ryan woke early the next morning and got the bag ready with the C-4 and the detonators. He placed the timer in the bag and set the bag next to the door. He called room service and ordered breakfast for both he and Maria. By the time the food arrived Maria had gotten up and she said, “Thank you, you knew I’d be hungry.”
“Yea we didn’t have much last night.”
“You still think a drop from the tram is the way to go?”
“Yea I do I really don’t know of a better way. Had the missiles had some effect I would try that again.”
“Well I just want you to be careful, I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I will babe I promise.”
Ryan checked his watch and it was almost time to go so they put the room service tray outside the door and headed down to the garage and their SUV. The drove back to the tram station and Ryan waited for the midday tram. He was riding by himself and was behind a family with a couple of teenagers. Ryan could see two cars in front of him and as that car passed over the gate someone in the car tossed something out of the car. Ryan saw one of the demons swoop down and catch the item, Ryan frowned at the action of the demon. He watched as the demon took the item back to the ledge that the gate sat on.
The kids in the car in front of him threw a cup that had been a large drink at one time. Another demon swooped down and grabbed it. He carried it away from the gate and dropped it. Ryan was puzzled by the action, the first item was carried to the gate and the second item was carried it away from the gate. Ryan decide not to drop on the way up he changed his mind and decided that he would drop it on the way down he would pick up some trash at the top and drop it at the same time.
Once his car reached the top he quickly found the trash can and took a couple of soda cans and carried them back with him as he got on the tram car going down. The tram car in front of him and the one behind him were both empty. As he came over the gate he dropped all three items at the same time. Three demons swept down and the two that grabbed the cans carried them away from the gate. The one that caught the gym bag took it right to the gate. He didn’t look inside it at all, he showed the bag to the head demon who took the bag and carried it into the gate. Ryan knew he had fifteen seconds left before the bag blew. He would never make it to the bottom in time.
He hopped the gate would contain the blast and not do any damage outside the gate. Having already destroyed two gates he didn’t hold out much hope of that happening. Ryan watched his watch and counted down the last five seconds and when the C-4 detonated the blast shot fire and rock up into the air and it was hitting the cable that held the cars.
When the blast debris died down Ryan thought he was going to be safe. Suddenly he felt the car jerk, He looked back and saw that the cable was almost cut in two, He hoped that the cable would stay together long enough for him to get out of the car. His car moved another ten feet when the cable broke. He was still almost thirty feet in the air when his car fell, When the car hit the street below him the car was hit almost right away by a truck. The truck pushed the tram car almost fifty feet down the road and the truck climbed on top of the car.
It was almost ten minutes before anyone realized that someone was in the tram car and trapped under the truck. Police, fire and ambulance arrived in another fifteen minutes. There was a lot of blood that was on the ground by the tram car. The emergency crews worked with all speed to get Ryan out.
Maria gasped when she saw the cable car fall and watched as the truck hit the car. She hopped that there was no one in the tram car. When she heard the siren’s she started to get a little worried. She ran over to the accident scene, Maria’s heart jumped into her throat when she saw the same shirt that Ryan was wearing laying on the ground and the emergency teams working on someone. She pushed in closer and saw that it was Ryan and she screamed. A police officer came to her as she was trying to get to Ryan. “That’s my Fiancée!”
Two officers grabbed her and pulled back from the scene. The emergency crews are working on him when they get him stable they will take him to the hospital. The emergency crews finally loaded Ryan into the ambulance and departed with lights and sirens blaring. The police took Maria back to her SUV and escorted her to the hospital after they made sure she was safe to drive.
When Maria arrived at the hospital the staff got as much information from her about Ryan as she could give them. They told her to have a seat and they would
take her back to see Ryan as soon as possible. Maria sat was worrying about Ryan, how bad was he hurt, would he be ok. It took almost an hour before the nurse came and got Maria. The nurse escorted her back to Ryan’s room, when she pushed the curtain aside and walked in she gasped at all the bruises and cuts that Ryan had on his body. She had seen Ryan badly gashed and clawed but this was ten times worse. The nurse told Maria that Ryan had a broken arm, a broken leg, a broken collar bone, several broken ribs and a concussion. All and all he was very lucky to be alive.
Maria leaned over and gently kissed Ryan on his lips and he stirred but didn’t wake up. The nurse said that he was under some pretty heavy pain meds. The nurse told her the doctor would be in shortly.
The doctor came in and went over the injuries with Maria again and added that he had a small fracture to his hip and a ruptured spleen. They would be taking him to surgery shortly to fix the broken leg and arm and remove his spleen. The remaining injuries would just take time to heal. In less than an hour they came and took Ryan to surgery.
The Seven Princess and The Gates of Hell Page 33
