“The Colonel needs to know!” he yelled above the boom of thunder and then fired three rounds from his Glock into the shins of a charging witch. His eyes widened when he saw that the woman was wearing a meter-maids uniform from the City of New Orleans.
Mendenhall clicked his field radio to life and called Collins.
“Go, Will, over,” responded Jack as Will heard a burst of automatic fire from somewhere near.
“Colonel, look at the arms of the attackers!”
“Say again!”
“Look at the arms of the attackers!”
* * *
Jack tossed Carl the radio and belly crawled to the nearest fallen attacker. It was a man who was dressed as a mechanic with the name tag on his coveralls of ‘Jimmy,’ on his breast. Jack hurriedly rolled up his wet sleeve. The track marks were clear and abundant. He felt for a pulse on the man’s neck and found his heart was still beating. He then raised his right eyelid and in the flash of lightning saw his pupil was dilated more than he had ever seen. He had seen many a soldier in field hospitals under a morphine drip and knew dilated eyes when he saw them. The man he was looking was so full of what was obviously heroin that he knew there would be no way he would ever have survived the night. He again looked at the track marks and immediately surmised the puncture marks were recent and not long term. He slammed his fist into the ground and back crawled to Everett. He picked up the radio.
“All mansion personnel, all mansion personnel. Stop shooting to kill, I repeat no more killing. Wound but not kill. I repeat these people are not responsible for their actions!”
“Jesus, Jack, what in the hell are we up against?” Carl asked as he adjusted aim with his M-4 and downed a crazily running older man in golf clothing. The man slid on the soaked earth and grabbed for both knees where the bullets struck.
“Elsbeth said Asmodius was a liar. I guess making your followers drug addled helps him explain his cause. The bastard’s using these people as cannon fodder!”
* * *
Deep inside the basement, Elsbeth opened her eyes as Matchstick and Charlie were startled by her sudden movement. Ellenshaw held a Glock in his shaking hand and was watching the stairs leading to the ground floor. Matchstick had a small baseball stadium give-away bat on his shoulder and looked ready to use it.
“Easy Slim. Don’t shoot. And inform little Reggie they’re not to swing away just yet. Now, what did I miss?”
“The Colonel has ordered the killing stopped. Disable only. The son of a bitch is using drugs on his own followers!”
Elsbeth closed her eyes and slowly shook her head.
“You said he was the great deceiver. What creature is capable of that?”
“A Grey Slim. As evil as its race is, he tops them all. It like a crazed animal who is starving. It knows no boundaries of right or wrong, child or adult. It kills and eats. That simple.” Elsbeth stood and took a deep breath. “Slim I found him. The cowards waiting for some man named Sokol to finish his attack. It’s four miles outside of Boston on a ship that isn’t going anywhere. He’s as stuck as a rat in a trap.”
“Sokol, who in the hell is that?”
“I’m a Sokol,” said a voice from the stairs.
Charlie, Matchstick and Elsbeth turned on the man who was leaning over the wooden railing of the basement steps and his pistol was pointed not at Charlie or Elsbeth, but the small alien who growled deep in his throat. Dmitri Sokol stepped aside and allowed five large men to pass him on the stairs and continue holding the three in their sights as he slowly descended and joined them.
“Miss Barlow. I know your powers. But you can do anything fast enough to keep me from placing a bullet in the Green’s brain. And if Asmodius explained it to me, you need his mind to get into Asmodius’. Since you wanted to see the Grey so much, why not do just that? Professor Ellenshaw you’re invited also.”
It didn’t take Charlie long to put the puzzle pieces together when he caught a hint of the Man’s accent. He reached over and gently removed the small bat from Matchstick’s hands who turned and gave Ellenshaw a sad and startled look. Charlie remembered the simple gesture that Will Mendenhall used on him many times when he himself was so frightened he was near to panic. He winked at the small alien and the trick seemed to work as Matchstick turned back to the four men and another deep throated growl escaped his throat. Ellenshaw threw his nine-millimeter and the bat down on the concrete floor as lightning illuminated the basement through the small windows.
“Wise move Professor,” Sokol said as he ordered one of his drug addled men to tie Elsbeth’s hands behind her back. The man performed the task roughly. “Easy, have some respect for your elders. Apologies Miss Barlow, but if Asmodius fear’s your power, I think it wise to treat you accordingly. No waving of hands,” the man then placed duct tape over her mouth,” and no chants and spells.” Sokol started to turn and then stopped. “I give you my word I will force Asmodius to make your demise quick and painless.” His eyes went to Charlie and Matchstick. “All of you.”
Charlie felt a pang of bravery and knew Will Mendenhall and Jason Ryan had truly rubbed off on him.
“You have that much pull with Asmodius do you?”
“We have agreements,” Sokol answered with a smirk.
Charlie laughed, really feeling the arrogance of the Russian. “Let me guess. The Committee, right? I may also guess that you’re pretty low on the numbered order of this Committee. Because you have to be that dumb to think Asmodius will keep any agreement you’ve made.”
Sokol took an angry step toward Ellenshaw and the Professor used every ounce of will power to stay his feet from backing away. Instead he doubled down and stuck out his chin in defiance.
“I have no use for the committee Professor. They have no vision. Just a bunch of old men who want to return to even older ways. Dreams of the past. Asmodius will give me the power to really bring my homeland into the future.” He started to turn but stopped once again when he heard Elsbeth laughing under the tape. Instead of a rebuke he looked at two of his men. “There’s a door to a garage. We need two vehicles.”
The two men ran up the stairs.
“The storm’s weakening,” Charlie said. “I think your friend is also.” Charlie dodged the man trying to place tape over his mouth. “Why don’t you stick around Mr. Sokol. There’s a man outside that’s most anxious to meet you.” The brute of a man grabbed Charlie’s long white hair and slammed the tape over his mouth.
“Ah, Colonel Collins. Correct?”
Matchstick took an angry step forward and hissed. “Colonel Jaaaack!”
Sokol stepped back a foot and actually smiled at the small, brave alien.
“That is one problem that I won’t have to face, Professor. His bleak future lies in the hands of others. That, as they say, is out of my control.” Sokol gestured for his men to remove his captives to the first floor.
If he would have seen the relaxed look on Elsbeth Barlow’s face Sokol would not have been so confident.
* * *
It had taken the three over an hour to find the mansion. If it weren’t for the sporadic gunfire they would still be roaming in the woods and drowning under the rain filled skies. Xavier had been threatened by Master Chief Jenks several time about being left out in the wood if he got stuck in his wheelchair one more time. Jenks always relented and assisted Morales out of a hole or over a fallen tree. But Xavier knew the Master Chief’s patience in helping him would soon be at an end the close they got to the gunfire.
Jenks held up his hand when they came to an area where one of the many truck’s had smashed through the cast-iron fences at the back of the property. In the blast of lightning overhead, he saw the spires of the tall chimney’s rising above the trees.
“There’s the house. That’s where I’m headed.”
“Jenks, the gunfire is coming from over in that direction. If there’s gunfire, Jack and Carl are sure to be close by,” Anya said with her black hair dripping water.
“
I’m not after Jack and Toad, Doll. The bitch I want is right in there,” he said pointing his nine-millimeter at the large mansion. “I don’t think an old woman is out playing GI Joe with the boys.”
“Master Chief think a minute,” Xavier pleaded. “If you go in there, you’re more than likely going to face a bunch of her people and get killed before you have a chance to…to, oh hell, avenge Virginia. Now I want to kill the bastards responsible as much…hell, maybe not as much, but—”
“Shut it nerd boy before I shoot out your tires,” Jenks said. He turned and looked at both as the rain ran off and through his close-cropped hair. He angrily tossed the wet stub of his cigar away. “Okay Hansel and Gretel, you two take care of yourselves. And you,” he pointed at Anya, “get Toad to settle down. Marry the asshole and save his life. God knows I should have made Virginia quit. Now it’s too—”
“Good luck Jenks.” Anya almost choked up.
The Master Chief looked from Anya to Morales, then stood from his cover and ran for the dense tree line.
* * *
Jack and Carl were hitting the remaining followers of Asmodius with a withering fire and they estimated that since the discover of massive amounts of drugs in their systems, had not killed any. Most would be pain free walking from here forward, but as Jack saw it, it just may be a powerful lesson on not worshiping an alien Warlock named Asmodius Modai.
Suddenly Everett saw a blur of motion as a man sprinted toward the front of the Mansion. I the flash of lightning he saw it was a squat man that ran as if he knew what he was doing as far as assault tactics went. His heart stopped. He shook Collins next to him.
“Jack, it’s Jenksy!” Carl didn’t wait, he jumped up and started running for the mansion over a hundred yards away.
Jack realized that the Master Chief was under the false evidence that Elsbeth Barlow was behind the murder of Virginia and having Charlie and Matchstick in her company would do much to persuade the Master Chief he was wrong in his assumptions. As he stood to follow. Four large men crazed with heroin coursing through their veins jumped Jack. Three men forced him to the ground and a fourth held his filthy and mud-caked hands over his face. Collins felt the air being drawn from his lungs like the witch was using a straw to suck him dry. He tried to draw in an intake of air, but it was like breathing through wet cloth. Jack started to choke, and his mind was fuzzy, and then his vision started to tunnel.
Suddenly the weight on his arms were gone. His face was splattered with warm blood that was immediately washed away in the continuing downpour. Then his eyes fluttered open and he saw the Frenchman standing over him with a smoking and hissing Glock. He assisted Jack to his feet.
“Sorry to intervene, but that embrace didn’t look all that loving and appropriate.”
“Jenks is here and is going to kill Elsbeth!”
“You go, I’ll cover!” Farbeaux said loading another clip into his Glock.
“Henri, shoot to wound, not kill.”
“Colonel, I noticed that you like to take the fun out of everything,” Henri fired two shots and brought down two women with thigh shots.
Jack didn’t know if the Frenchman didn’t kill them because of his orders or simply because they were women. The grin on his face was at the very least, confusing. He quickly turned and ran to follow Carl.
* * *
The garage was amazingly full of old and rusted relics. The newest model vehicle was a 1970 Dodge Challenger, canary yellow in color. The rest were station wagons and family-style touring cars.
Matchstick and Charlie were shoved into the very same Town and Country wagon they had come east in from Nevada along with two of Sokol’s thugs. They had orders to run interference for the large 1972 Plymouth Fury that had the faded black and white color of a former police car. Both vehicles looked heavy enough to get the group to Boston. Elsbeth was shoved ruthlessly into the backseat of the Fury and Sokol piled in next to her. He slapped the driver’s seat and told the two men in front to get moving. His sixth sense was telling him Collins was close by and that was one man he had no wish to meet in person.
* * *
Jenks saw the automatic garage doors start to open and he ran in that direction just as the large Town and Country screeched out of the garage. The Master Chief stood his ground and took quick aim and fired at the speeding vehicle. Bullet holes smashed into the front window and the station wagon swerved and then fishtailed into a line of manicured hedges lining the drive.
Charlie Ellenshaw shook his head to clear it, after hitting his head on the side window. He looked at Matchstick and saw the small alien was alright, just frightened, and when he looked up he barely made out the form of a man running through the rain and then without one moment’s hesitation the person placed two well-aimed shots into the front seat. The two men there were dead before they knew what had happened.
Matchstick jumped into Charlie’s lap and pulled the tape from his mouth.
“Come on, let’s get the hell out of here!”
* * *
The Plymouth Fury tore free of the large garage. The driver saw Jenks before Jenks could move. At the last moment he dove out of the way with the right front tire missing him by mere inches. As he rose and aimed, he saw an old woman’s head pop up and look out of the rear window. He fired just as a hand pulled the woman back down. The black and white Fury sped down the drive. Master Chief Jenks cursed his luck. He knew he had blown his chance of ending Elsbeth Barlow right then and there. He pocketed the Glock and ran inside of the garage. His eyes immediately saw the bright yellow Dodge Challenger. He ran for it and opened the door, but his hope faded when he saw no key. He hurriedly laid on the front bucket seat and started tearing at wires. He found the correct wires and then touched the two together. The engine roared to life and Jenks twisted the two together. He immediately three the manual transmission into first gear and the car fishtailed, striking two other cars as he sped from the garage.
* * *
Jack and Carl saw the second car speed by them before they could react just as they saw Ellenshaw and Matchstick running towards them. Charlie was shouting something and pointing at the black and white can that had almost run them down. Ellenshaw slipped and fell and Matchstick hurriedly tried to help Cray Charlie to his feet. Everett and Collins helped.
“A guy named Sokol took her Colonel. A damn Russian!”
“Essss a dammmm Russssssian,” Matchstick repeated.
Carl looked at Jack as the whole story of Asmodius may just be coming together.
The Dodge Challenger was heard before it was seen. There were no headlights as it nearly missed Everett. Carl aimed at the back window hoping for a lucky shot.
Suddenly he was struck from behind by a crazed woman who neck-tied her arms around his thick neck.
“No,” was all he heard.
Carl tried his hardest to dislodge the wild animal and then he stopped when he recognized the voice. The woman finally relented in her ruthless hold on his neck. She dropped free just as Jack, Charlie, and Matchstick saw Xavier roll onto the drive he tried to turn too quickly, and then his chair snagged in a rut and he was dumped onto the gravel. Jack ran to help.
“Carl, that’s Jenks!”
“Damn it!” Everett said as he suddenly embraced Anya. “Are you okay?”
Anya said nothing as she received the emotion from Carl she had been waiting on for a full year. She squeezed as if he would blow away in the storm.
“You American’s pick the strangest times for romance.”
The hug was broken and they Henri Farbeaux standing in the drive.
“That was Jenks?” Charlie asked as he picked up Matchstick from the wet ground.
“He tried to kill me and Matchstick!”
Matchstick was nodding his head up and down.
“Hey, we just saw Jenks in a Challenger. The asshole tried to run us over!” Mendenhall said as he, Tram and Ryan came running from the front of the property.
“He must think we’re still bl
aming Elsbeth for Virginia’s murder,’ jack said looking through the rain at the remains of Elsbeth’s army as they were now assisting the wounded of both sides.
“We better get after them Jack. This storm’s dying down and some ass at Harvard is bound to report that there was some kind of major battle near campus,” Carl said.
“Okay, Will, go round up two vehicles. Ryan help. Xavier, you stay and coordinate with Elsbeth’s people. If the authorities do show up give them the code word ‘Chicken Little.’
Xavier nodded his head. He knew that was code to all State authorities of a suspected terrorist attack. That should give Elsbeth’s people the cover they need.
“Later, use Europa and erase this whole night from existence.”
“Yes, Colonel. Can do.”
Good. Tram you ride with Carl, Matchstick, Charlie and I. Number one. We stop Jenks from killing Elsbeth. Number two, Elsbeth needs Matchstick for her, hell, whatever it is. Number three, if she doesn’t stop Asmodius, we do. All other considerations are secondary. Clear?”
Everyone knew what that meant. They were now all expendable.
“I expect you don’t need my services any longer. So maybe this is where I bow out,” Henri said.
“Are you kidding?” Jack said. “Henri, like it or not, you’re now an official good guy.”
Farbeaux looked sick. He kicked out at the gravel of the drive looking like a spoiled child who just got caught being bad.
“Let’s go kill our last Grey, shall we?”
* * *
Boston, Massachusetts
Asmodius turned from the pier and looked at its damaged ship. His mind connection with Sokol and the others had just gone dark. He sensed the Russian was still alive but his ability to see his army was black. His mental embrace of Elsbeth Barlow was still intact and that could only mean one thing—his forces had failed him. The Philippine Captain and his crew were busy pumping out seawater and dumping cargo containers into the roiling sea that smashed the steel into the pier and rocks lining the coastline.
Season of the Witch Page 31
