Kneel Or Die

by Michael Anderle

  He had acquired his ability at great cost in Syria. He and one other were the only two survivors from a small engagement up in the hills. It had taken three days to get out alive. He had, however, left those hills a different man. Now, he knew to trust his instincts. Those same instincts were screaming at him that danger was near.

  So very near.

  He reached under his coat and pulled a small caliber pistol from a holster under his arm. His five-eleven, two-hundred-pound frame easily hid any bulges someone might see. Not that anyone would speak to the authorities in this area of Bury Park.

  One more glance at his hair then he turned and resumed walking down the street. It was time to turn the tables on his stalker.

  Because, even though he didn’t see anyone, Ali Abdullah was damn sure that he had someone stalking him.

  He had felt this feeling before.

  Ali Abdullah circled back on Hapton and walked over to the little football field near where Hapton met Dunstable. He decided he would find a place in the trees and bushes where he could sit and wait out his tag there. When he was a block away, the feeling of fear ratcheted up a few notches. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed a lone man following him from the other side of Hampton. When he spotted the man, the man had been looking right at Ali. Bold as brass, as if daring him to do something.

  Ali felt the gun in his hand, cursing that he hadn’t brought anything bigger with him. This area, he had thought, was safe enough. The man crossed the street to follow behind him.

  Ali took a right to go between the two buildings, cars parked on his left and the building walls to the shops on his right. These were all small, narrow homes with tiny yards behind them. He walked behind their fence line and hung a left to cross over the concrete play areas, chalk lines marking where children had played earlier. He went past a little playground, rubberized pieces under the jungle gym in case any toddlers fell. He made it to the first group of trees, the darkness becoming complete once he was under the tree limbs.

  He moved silently, keeping an eye out for the man who was following him earlier.

  He had just made it to the last tree. It was large enough that he could hide most of his body behind the trunk. That was when the man stepped out of the little alleyway used to get to the park. The man turned and looked slowly in his direction, and then stopped as if he could see Ali easily.

  That was impossible, Ali was completely in the dark. Since the man was standing under a few street lights, his vision had to be affected.

  The man started walking in his direction. Ali could see him now, he looked American, maybe of Spanish descent. The man pulled his hands out of his coat, one of them came out with a pistol. It looked significantly larger than the one Ali had on him. Plus, he could see a silencer.

  Dammit! Ali paused just a moment, looked towards the field again and then back towards the man. Could he run across the field before the man could get off a shot? Should he try to fire his tiny .22 from behind the tree? Turning back around, he noticed a woman was walking into the field. Damn, she was almost to the center, coming in his direction. She had black hair, but her skin was light. She wasn’t from around here.

  Ali knew that hesitation could get you killed. He broke from his cover in the trees and sprinted towards the woman. He would grab her and place his pistol under her chin. Even if the American wouldn’t trade the hostage for his life, he would take one more down with him.

  —

  Eric Escobar, Guard to Bethany Anne, Queen of the UnknownWorld (whether they knew it or not) sighed and put his gun back in his holster and continued walking towards the trees. “Wrong choice, dickhead.”

  The whimpering cries Eric could hear as he walked under the trees didn’t surprise him. Apparently, Ali ‘John’ Abdullah, a named terrorist and controller of at least one, if not more, cells here in England had just been caught in the spider’s web.

  He turned through the trees to see Ali, knees on the ground holding his head as if in pain. Bethany Anne was quietly talking to him, her voice silky smooth over steel.

  Poor Ali was telling her everything she wanted to know. Eric walked up to the two. He had seen Bethany Anne’s red eyes glowing, from back under the trees. His new enhancements, finalized by his time in the Pod-doc just days ago, had coalesced into a body he never dreamed of having. His hearing was more acute, his eyesight beyond compare, and his bench pressing was damned impressive. Shame he couldn’t go to a muscle beach in California, he would certainly piss off the locals there. He now gave off a vibe. Hell, he was the first to go through the Pod-doc. The first guard to go to the mess after being ‘upgraded’. This meant that he was the first to experience one of the more radical effects. As he walked in practically everyone was already looking at the door. It was like they were all expecting someone, or possibly something, and not in a ‘good’ way.

  The wariness in their eyes was replaced with relief when Eric walked into the room. He had turned to look behind him and then looked back, some of the people had still been staring at him, “What?”

  He found out everyone could ‘feel’ his presence. A couple of the guardians had said it was a presence that raised the hackles on your neck. It had taken him until the next day to figure out how to turn that shit off. This evening, he had turned it back on and enjoyed the ever-loving hell out of it.

  He smelled urine and wrinkled his nose. That was a new ability he wasn’t always fond of. It was wonderful if the scent was chocolate, not so great when it was the urine from a terrorist who had just lost bladder control. He looked around checking the area. No one was looking and he didn’t see any blinds parted from the few windows which overlooked the field.

  He checked his watch, they needed to hurry to make the meeting in Colorado. He turned his attention back to his boss, and the unfortunate asshole who was the reason they were in England.

  —

  Bethany Anne had gotten all of the information she could get out of this prick. Unfortunately, he was pretty low on the totem pole and was blocked from knowing any higher names. She considered her options for a second then shrugged her shoulders. She needed to get back to Colorado so she was out of time and needed to finish this operation.

  She put more steel into her voice, leaving the silk in place. “Ali Abdullah, your crimes against the innocent cast you as a wrongdoer and transgressor. Therefore, you are sentenced to commit one more sin. You, Ali Abdullah, shall stand up and count to five, after I give you permission to die, and then place your pistol in your mouth and fire. Stand up, transgressor.”

  Ali Abdullah, his body operating against his will, screamed in his mind. His fear so strong he was barely able to understand what was happening to him. His legs betrayed him as he stood up. This damn she-demon had watched as he ran at her. When he had raised his pistol, she smiled evilly. He had slowed down and watched with disbelief when her eyes started glowing red, and fangs grew from her mouth. Then everything had changed as she uttered her first words to him. “KNEEL!”

  He hadn’t been able to get his knees on the ground fast enough.

  Now, he was standing up, his pistol in his hand. She reached for him, grabbing his arm painfully and looking into his eyes, she gave him her final command, “DIE!” Then, she pushed him a little and he ended up on what felt like a field. But he couldn’t see, everything seemed like there was a heavy mist around him, no noise, nothing – it was silent. Not that it mattered, a mental timer clicked over in his head and his arm brought the pistol up to his mouth.

  Now it was time to die.

  Denver, CO - USA

  Lance signed the dinner bill and added a twenty percent tip. The service had been outstanding. There wasn’t any reason not to share his wealth with people working hard to make sure his evening out was enjoyable.

  And it had been.

  Placing his napkin on the table, he texted Bethany Anne to let her know that they were leaving.

  Smiling at his old boss, Kevin told him, “It’s just difficult for me to s
ee this ‘new’ Lance Reynolds when I knew the old, gruff, cigar-chewing General for so long. You’re even texting on a phone now. I have to stop myself from asking, ‘who are you and what have you done with the real Lance Reynolds’?” His smile seemed a little forced. Lance could understand. Kevin had an honorable discharge from the service and was now going to meet his new ‘commander in chief’.

  “Don’t get worried. You have the job if you want it. This isn’t an interview to get the job. Think of it more as an employee on-boarding effort.”

  The two of them walked out of the restaurant, “Does the head boss fly to different towns to do this very often?”

  Lance considered his question, “Well, she did it for me, for Patricia, and now for you. So, you’re the third one that I’m aware of.”

  Kevin thought about that for a moment. “You brought Patricia on board, and now me. This boss lady must trust you pretty well since you keep bringing on your people for key roles. She doesn’t worry that you’re biased in favor of people you’ve worked with before?”

  Lance shrugged. Taking a right out of the restaurant, Lance directed them to the corner and then turned right along 15th. They had passed Comedy Works and Kevin was surprised when Lance turned down the alley that went behind the Capital Grill. “You cheat! Don’t tell me you parked in a no-parking zone down in an alley! I parked three blocks over off 17th. No wonder you got to the restaurant so fast.”

  Lance took one more right and went through an area between two buildings and down six concrete steps. He stopped, “Kevin, you might be surprised how far away I was when I told you I would be here in a few minutes.”

  Kevin looked around. He could smell the sickly sweet odor of rotting food and garbage that couldn’t be more than forty feet away. “What the hell, Lance. I know I’ve pulled your leg a time or two, but if you’re punking me….” He stopped talking when Lance’s more jovial visage clamped down and ‘The General’ was back in place. Kevin stood a little straighter.

  “You ready to think ‘bigger’, Sergeant?” Lance’s voice brought his attention back. Here was the man he had followed for two decades. Hell, he even looked two decades younger.

  “Sir, yes sir!”

  “Then don’t scream like a little girl when you look up.” With that declaration, Lance Reynolds pointed a finger straight up.

  Kevin looked above his head, only to see a large block of stars blacked out. He stepped back a few feet to see if the darkness moved. He damn near fell on his ass when he hit the stairs. He turned and took them three at a time to get back to the main level of the street. “What the hell is it?”

  “That,” Lance Reynolds answered, “Is the person here to provide your employee interview.”

  Kevin looked down at Lance, his mouth agape.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Denver, CO - USA

  Kevin McCoullagh was staring, his mind unable to process what his eyes were seeing. There was a black … something, hovering silently just a few feet above his head.

  “Kevin!” Sounds began making sense again and he realized his name had been called multiple times. He saw Lance wave both of his hands in a shooing gesture, “You need to move back, they want to land here. Hurry, hurry, chop, chop man!”

  Kevin backed up until he was in the main alleyway. He quickly looked left and right to see if anyone was coming. The alleyway was clear. The craft settled into the area where he had just been standing. It wasn’t overly large, maybe ten to twelve feet tip to tip and six feet wide. It was all black with what looked like a glass windshield that wrapped part way around both sides. He couldn’t see inside the glass. There were three small wheels. It kind of looked like a tiny version of a Black Hawk helicopter without a rotor, or propeller… or engine… In fact, he had no idea how it was moving at all. The craft’s nose cracked straight down the middle and opened up. A damned large Hispanic man stepped out of the craft and quickly looked around the alley.

  A voice called to the man from inside the craft, he couldn’t see the person yet. “Eric, get your ass out of my way. This thing might be fast, but a girl needs to stretch her legs.”

  The man turned to face the person talking to him and smiled back at her, “Need a hand?”

  “To get out? No. But I will eat it, if you don’t pick me up some steak by the time I get back. Something smells fucking delicious!”

  Kevin’s mind was racing. That voice was familiar, damned familiar. He noticed Lance walking back up the steps while Eric reached in and pulled another person up from the craft.

  Oh. My. God. She was young and holy crap was she gorgeous…. that was when he realized just who he was staring at. He stepped towards the two of them as Lance came around the other side. He took another step, “Bethany Anne?” The woman had just hugged Lance and turned to face him.

  He was staring at Lance’s daughter. But, not. She was different. She was taller. He checked quickly, she wasn’t wearing high heels. In fact, she was dressed like she had just come from an operation. She had on tactical boots and vest, but with leather pants instead of tactical cargo pants.

  Kevin thought they were really tight, really nice and tight leather pants. He heard Lance clear his throat. Kevin felt his face flush. God! He had just been caught staring at the boss, by the boss’s dad! He officially wanted to crawl into a dumpster. In his mind he just shook his head, he so sucked around women.

  She came over to him and didn’t hesitate to give him a hug. “Kevin! Good to see you again. It’s been a while.” She stepped back and started snapping her fingers in front of his eyes. “Hey! You in there?”

  Lance grunted, “I think your appearance caused his synapses to over-load. You might need to slap him around to get him to reset.” Eric snorted at the comment.

  Bethany Anne looked over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at her dad. She turned to Eric. “Do you mind getting him into your seat? We shouldn’t be gone more than thirty to forty-five minutes. We don’t have time to let him reset here, he can do that upstairs.” Bethany Anne sported a wicked grin as she pointed a finger skyward.

  Eric nodded and walked over to Kevin. “Let’s go, your legend isn’t faring so well. You need to buck the fuck up and get your mind in gear.”

  Kevin jerked his head around when Eric spoke to him. He tensed a little, this man was beyond dangerous and, he was only trying to help him get moving. Kevin nodded and started towards the craft. It was obvious what she wanted. Kevin quickly reviewed as much as he could of this evening’s conversations. He stared at Lance as he stepped into the craft, guided to the right as he got in. He pivoted and sat in the left seat. Kevin’s mind finally clicked. He tried to lean out of the craft, but the harness had been locked while he was still processing. He called out to Lance. “Hey, you’re telling me you flew one of these in to see me? Where the hell did you park it?”

  Lance came around so he could look into the Pod and smiled at his previous number one, now number two. He pointed up, “I understand about twenty-three thousand feet up. Not too much competition for parking space up there.” Lance stepped back and hugged his daughter again. Bethany Anne stepped in, turning around fluidly she sat down and grabbed the straps to click across her chest.

  She called out to Eric, “Hey! Make sure it’s medium, not red. Lots of garlic butter if they have it. I do loves me the rolls at this place.”

  Eric made a face at Bethany Anne, “Garlic? God, your breath is going to be awful on the trip back.”

  “What did you just tell Kevin? Buck the fuck up? Stop your whining or you can fly coach back, Mr. Escabar.”

  Kevin could see everything outside clearly, even in the dark. But he couldn’t hear anything past, “Hell no! You’re not showing up anywhere near Gabrielle without me by your side!” Then the noise stopped when the doors shut. He watched as Bethany Anne touched an area on the glass. Suddenly, the front glass displayed several illuminated panels. There were areas displaying maps, notes, information and a row of button controls. But it was like the info
rmation was projected right into the glass because he could see through it to the outside.

  Kevin’s mind started spinning, he was in some sort of advanced craft and about to…

  The epithet left his mouth without so much as a request for permission when the craft left the ground at a mind numbing speed, “OHHH HOOOOLY SHIIIIIIITT!” He reached out to brace himself. He had his left arm pushing against the wall, his right seeking a handhold on the seat. It seemed that mere seconds had elapsed when Denver went from a large portion of the night to practically nothing then they were above the clouds.

  He finally registered what Bethany Anne was saying, “Last chance Kevin. If I have to pull your hand off my leg, I’m going to make you pay me twenty bucks for copping a feel.”

  Kevin yanked his right hand back. In his shock he had grabbed Bethany Anne’s leg and had been squeezing it as hard as he could. He hadn’t made much of a dent. What the fuck was happening?