Redemption (The Keepers of Hell Book 3)

by James, Danielle

  “We are going to have to be extremely quiet. I want you to get in there and head that way,” she pointed toward the east side of the building. “It’s away from the office and there is a large fan that leads to the outside. Move slowly and carefully. Do not make a sound. If you hear something, don’t move. Don’t give them any indication of where you are. When you get to the fan, stop. Do not go outside until I am there. Do you all understand?”

  Twenty-five heads nodded. “Good. Now, let’s get you all out of here.”

  Lacy helped Jamie lift each student into the duct system. They did as she asked and moved as silently as possible, until the only student remaining was Jamie. “There is no way I am fitting into that vent,” he told her. Lacy had already known that, but she had hoped.

  “I’ll figure something out,” Lacy told him.

  “I’m going with you,” he said firmly.

  “Jamie,” she said, “You can’t. I don’t know if I’m even going to get out.”

  “Of course you will, Ms. B,” he said. “You will because you’re the shit and you’re the smartest teacher here. I know it and I am going to help you.”

  “Jamie, I can’t. I can’t let you come with me.”

  “Ms. B,” he said quietly, “I know I am just a kid to you, but I am strong. I can fight. If this were the Civil War, I would be a soldier now. I am going to help you whether you like it or not.”

  Lacy didn’t know what to do. She was torn between protecting the child and accepting his help. “Hang on,” she muttered and got out her cell phone. She texted all the teachers she had numbers saved in her phone for, telling them to send their students out the way she did. Then she looked back at Jamie. “We aren’t going to have much time,” she warned him. “As soon as the camera is out, I will have to shoot the man in the hall. Are you prepared for that?”

  “No,” he admitted, “But if it means we all get to live then let’s do it anyway.”

  Lacy waited until she got confirmation from the other teachers that their students were on the move before she made her own move.

  She climbed up Jamie’s back and disconnected her camera. She knew that would alert the men in the office and the one in the hallway would come to investigate. She was not disappointed. He was stalking down the hall, right in her direction. Lacy pulled her gun and eased the hammer back. “Stay behind me,” she told Jamie. She unlocked her door and opened it a crack. When the man was close enough that she could see that he had brown eyes, Lacy took the shot.

  The would-be assassin dropped to the floor. Knowing the sound of gunfire would get things moving, Lacy grabbed Jamie’s hand and they ran through the hallway. Another man dressed in black rounded the corner and Lacy didn’t hesitate. One bullet, straight to his head. He dropped like a sack of rocks. Lacy reached down and grabbed his rifle as they ran past.

  Voices were coming their directions. Frantic shouting. Lacy needed to hide Jamie.

  Over there, a voice said to her. She didn’t see anyone and didn’t care. There was a janitor’s closet within reach. She yanked open the door and shoved Jamie inside. “Stay,” she commanded him.

  She closed the door just in time to see two more men coming her direction at a run. She raised her gun and fired twice. The first shot was dead on, the second missed, plunging into the wall behind the man.

  He growled as he came closer to her. Lacy fired again, this time hitting him in the shoulder. She raised the rifle at the same time he raised his own. She fired first, releasing a spray of bullets on the man.

  As soon as she was satisfied that he was dead, she went back to the closet where Jamie hid. “Come on,” she said and he ran after her. They were nearly out.

  “Just a little further,” she said, and when Jamie didn’t answer her she stopped and turned around. One of the men had Jamie by the neck and had a gun to his head.

  Her heart sank. Oh no… “Let him go,” she said.

  The man laughed. “I don’t think so. Where are the rest of the students?”

  Lacy shrugged her shoulders. “Beats me.”

  “You must not care very much for this one,” he said, pressing the gun harder to Jamie’s temple. “Shall I dispose of him for you?”

  “Let him go,” Lacy said again with conviction.

  “Tell me, Teacher, can you fire that weapon faster than I can blow this kid’s brains out?”

  Lacy held her gun steady at arm’s length. Could she? “Do you want to take that chance, Mister? I don’t think so. Let the boy go.”

  Jamie didn’t look scared. If anything, the child looked pissed. “Take the shot, Ms. B,” he told her.

  Lacy quickly weighed her options. If she fired, the man would kill Jamie. If she didn’t fire, he would kill him. It was a no win situation.

  Take the shot, that weird voice said again. Could she? Did she dare? Lacy closed her eyes and prayed that her hand be steady and her aim be true. When she opened them, Jamie must have seen the resolution in her eyes because at the exact moment he needed to, Jamie dropped his large body down and Lacy pulled the trigger.

  ***

  “I can’t stop it,” Antonio said to Jake. He had just come from inspecting the bomb in the basement. Explosives was his area of expertise and he would know if one could be disarmed. “It’s got a double back trigger that will blow immediately if I try. It’s a solid bomb.”

  Jake didn’t question the angel. “Then we need to get these kids out of here,” he said.

  Antonio agreed. “We’re gonna be in deep shit for this when Ash finds out.”

  Jake nodded. “Yeah well, fuck it. I’m doing it anyway.”

  Shelly gripped his hand and they all flashed to the outside of the building. They rounded the corner and stopped at the huge exhaust fan that was the only barrier keeping the children inside the school. They made themselves visible just before coming in front of the fan. “We’re getting you out,” he told them.

  “Ms. B said to wait for her,” one of the girls said and another smacked her on the arm. “Ow.”

  “How do you know he’s not one of them?” the other girl whispered.

  Antonio smiled. “I am a friend of Ms. B. Lacy is a fine lady, and right now I am determined that you should all get out immediately. Stand back.”

  That was all the warning he gave them before gripping the grate in his hands, ripping it off, and tossing it to the ground. “Go!” he shouted. “Get all the way out to the football field. As fast as you can.”

  Antonio helped each student and teacher out of the duct and nodded to Jake. It was time to see to his charge. He flashed to the front of the school just in time to see Lacy and Jamie running for their lives. He smiled. They were going to make it.

  Until the last terrorist jumped down from the roof, landing on Lacy’s back. They both fell to the ground and Jamie rushed back to his teacher. “No, kid, no,” Jake whispered.

  The terrorist stood and pointed his gun at Jamie. “Not too smart are you?” he said to the boy.

  Jamie was frozen with fear. He couldn’t move, but he saw his teacher get to her feet to his side. Just as the man raised his gun, Lacy tackled him. Jake watched helplessly as the gunman let off a stream of bullets that ripped into Lacy’s body, causing her to jerk and scream out. She didn’t let him go, though. Lacy pushed at him, forcing him back into the building as he continued to spray bullets into her flesh. They crashed through the glass doors at the front and then, the building exploded.

  EPILOGUE

  Lacy knew she was dead. She was floating freely down the infamous tunnel, watching glimpses of her life pass her by. It was like being in a moving, circular theater. She could see and hear her life as she lived it, one scene at a time. She saw her parents when she was only six, brushing her hair and tying it into a bun on her head before her first piano recital. She heard her mother’s comforting voice, telling her that she had all the confidence she needed. She saw her first boyfriend and had to smile at the way he looked at her. She saw the day she got married, how hap
py she had been.

  Lacy saw everything leading up to her identity change, including her husband’s dead and bloody body on their living room floor. She saw her students. She remembered each and every one of their faces on her first day.

  She saw the face of the students the day everything went to hell in a handbasket. Her heart pounded in her chest as she relived the fear they all felt.

  Lacy knew she was on the fast track to hell, so it didn’t surprise her when the movie of her life came to a close and she saw fire at the end of the tunnel. She had taken a life and she knew the price. She didn’t think it would come so soon, but she had known it was coming. Her body, or spirit, whatever she was now, moved faster through the tunnel.

  Faster and faster she flew, and she held her head high. She would take her punishment for her sins without regret. She would not beg and she would not plead for her soul. It had never been hers in the first place.

  She finally got to the end and she landed on her feet in front of a wall of fire. The heat poured off of it and her brow glistened with sweat. Did dead people sweat? Apparently so. She looked around her to realize that she was in a cave of some sort. What was she supposed to do now? She took two steps to her left and the wall of fire moved. It wrapped itself around her, blocking her path. Was she supposed to go into it?

  Lacy looked harder at the flames. If this was what she was meant to do, then she could do it. She tried to move her feet to accept her eternity, but it was as if someone cemented them to the floor. She couldn’t move. She could only stand there.

  That was when she saw a flicker of movement in the flames. Something was in there. Something that was not part of the fire. As it drew closer, Lacy could see it take the form of a man. He was tall with broad shoulders. There was something else though. Two identical things extended above his head on either side. They were too big to be horns, but all she could see was his outline. Demon, she thought. What else would she expect in hell?

  The demon man got closer until he broke through the flames and stood in front of her. She could now see him clearly. Dark hair over blue eyes that didn’t look evil to her, and those things? Those were huge black wings.

  “Lacy,” he said to her.

  Lacy held her head high and straightened her shoulders. “Yes.”

  “I have been waiting for you,” he said to her in a soft tone.

  Lacy didn’t know what to say, so she remained silent.

  “You have done some things in your life that were both incredible and sinful,” he continued. “I do not know if this is your final destination or not, but I would offer you a job here, if you would like.”

  A job? A job? What did he mean her final destination? And what kind of job? Did he want her to kill people for him and drag them to Hell? Did he want a housekeeper? And just, what?

  “You do not have to remain silent,” he told her. “You would like to know what kind of job I would be talking about, right?”

  Lacy regarded him through wary eyes. She nodded in response.

  “You have shown great courage and love in your human life,” the man said, walking back and forth in front of the fire. “You have done great things and I feel as if there are more great things for you to come. I am recruiting warriors to protect and serve down here.”

  Lacy finally found her voice. “Protect what, exactly?”

  The man turned to her. “Hell. Earth. Me. Take your pick.”

  “And if I refuse?” she asked.

  “You will go on to your soul’s rightful place, either here or in Heaven. I do not know which. You will not remember meeting me,” he said. She knew by the look in his eyes that he was telling the truth. She got the impression that this man did not bullshit about much of anything.

  “And if I say yes?” she asked.

  He smiled. “Then you become one of my Elite Guard. You will serve under me to protect the rules and keep us safe. You will keep earth safe.”

  “Why would I agree to work for the devil?” she asked with a sideways look.

  The man rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “Why does everyone assume I am the devil?”

  “Um,” Lacy said softly, “you’re in hell? Standing in front of the biggest wall of fire I have ever seen?”

  The man got closer to her then turned his back on her. “These are wings. Wings!” He pointed over his shoulder.

  “The devil was once an angel,” she reminded him. “He had wings.”

  The man spun around to face her. “I am an angel. I serve and protect. Yes I am in Hell, but I am not evil. Nor do I think you are either.”

  Lacy considered her options. If what this angel was saying was true, she could do so much good by accepting his offer. “What if I change my mind?” she asked him.

  “And that is why I like you,” he said. “You consider all options before making a rash decision. If you change your mind, I will let you go.”

  Lacy didn’t know if she would be doing good or not, but the call to help others was strong in her. What if what he said was true? Even if it wasn’t, she knew she was hell-bound anyway. What could it hurt? “Is that a promise?”

  “It’s a deal,” he smiled and held out his hand.

  “I won’t hurt innocent people,” she told him. On that, she would not budge.

  “I would never ask you to,” he told her, still holding out his hand.

  Lacy looked at his eyes and then his offered hand. She expected to see deceit, but what she saw was sincerity. Honesty. She slowly brought her hand up and he clasped it in his own. He shook her hand firmly and said, “My name is Ash. Welcome to Hell.”