Cursed Days

by J. M. LeDuc

  Brent placed a private call to Joseph, telling him what to watch for. “You see any deviation, take out the target.”

  Allowing a few minutes for everything to calm down, Brent gave the final orders. “Four, It’s your call. Tell us when Red is out of sight of HQ. On his go, I need three and five to take out our man on the roof simultaneously. Five, I need one of your razor shafted arrows to take the fingers off his hand. Three, you’ve got the easy assignment. I want a headshot with another arrow. Split his skull like a coconut.

  “Once he’s out of play, you’ll both take out the ground patrol,” Brent said. “Every shot must be a kill shot, repeat, this is a kill mission. We can’t risk anyone having even a split second to contact Red. If they do, Maddie and Chloe are dead.”

  The orders were a surprise to the squad. Seven had originally told everyone to use tranquilizer darts as ammo, but they understood the reason for the new orders. The words of the Pope reverberated in everyone’s mind, Evil finds a way.

  Bishop Jessup had been listening back in the tunnel where they first entered by the airfield. When he heard that it was a kill mission, he depressed the speaker button on his Walkie Talkie, but before he could speak something on the wall grabbed his attention. Stepping closer he read the script that was etched into the wall.

  Do not judge what you do not understand.

  After reading the words of one of the past ambassador’s, one of God’s chosen, Bishop Jessup decided not to say anything, but instead he listened and prayed for all those who would be involved in the fight.

  “Four, you’ll wait an extra five minutes before commencing your strike. That will give Two a chance to get in position. Six, I need you to drive up to the front of headquarters just as Four extinguishes the outer perimeter. You’ll draw the attention of the inside guard. When he meets you at the door, fake a stumble. Four, you need to take out the inside guard as soon as Six goes down. Is everyone on the same page?”

  Everyone radioed in that they were ready.

  Brent secretly radioed Joe. “If you get the chance, take out the guard as you stumble. Be discreet.”

  The Colonel again opened the frequency to the entire squad. “Four, I need you to take out the trash. There may be strays that pop up. I want any ‘trash’ you may encounter disposed of and thrown in the dumpster.”

  In a business like tone, Fitz replied, “Disposed of and thrown away, yes, sir.”

  “Jefferson, I want you inside headquarters at the north entrance. Scarlet, you’re to be stationed at the south end.” Brent stopped talking in the radio and spoke directly to Seven. “I need you to make your way into the inner sanctum of Headquarters. You’re to be waiting inside Maddie’s office, until I give you the word.”

  Seven spit the tobacco out of his mouth, repacked a new pinch and took off running. Brent watched until he lost sight of his best friend. Turning his attention back to the rest of his squad, he said, “Remember all of you that Maddie triggered the security system to activate upon movement. Make sure you override the system before entering any hallway and then reactivate upon exit. Once in position, gas masks are to be worn at all times until I say otherwise.” Brent waited for a verbal understanding of his orders. Once he got it, he continued, “All rats found in the maze are to be darted, bagged and stored. Is everyone secure in their orders?” Not waiting for a verbal, he said, “Good, we have a countdown of three minutes until trash detail begins starting... now.”

  CHAPTER 56

  Brent knelt on the cold, hard tunnel floor and prayed for the safety of his squad and his family. When he rose, he knew that everything that his squad was doing was out his control and in the hands of God. He had a mental image of his part of the mission and then radioed his next contact.

  “Bishop, are you there?”

  “I’m with you, Colonel.”

  “Glad you’re with me. I think you know where to meet.”

  Bishop Jessup swallowed hard, remembering the last time he entered the Tabernacle. “Yes, Ambassador,” was all he could manage to say.

  Brent waited at the designated spot for Bishop Jessup’s arrival. The Bishop could be heard running towards him and breathing hard. Sensing his arrival, Brent placed his hand on the wall of the tunnel. The rumbling and quaking caused by Brent’s maneuver almost knocked the Bishop off his feet. As the tremors subsided, the wall was gone and in its place was a purple curtain. The Bishop blessed himself before he opened it and walked inside. Brent followed.

  The glow coming off the Sword of Truth, which sat on the altar was so blinding that the Bishop had to turn away and hide his eyes. The biggest change since he laid eyes on the Holy of Holies was that now the Sword of Darkness lay at the feet of the altar.

  Brent followed. He went behind the altar and placed the Ark of the Endowment on the altar. The entire tabernacle became brighter. He did the same with the Ark of the Enlightenment causing a near blinding divine light. The inside of the Holy of Holies lit up as if it were on fire. It was a few minutes before their eyes could adjust to the bright light. When they did, Brent saw Bishop Jessup staring at the walls.

  “What is it?”

  Pointing to the walls, Bishop Jessup said, “These etchings; these words, they weren’t here before. In fact, the entire place somehow looks different.”

  Looking around the tabernacle they were amazed and confused at all they saw. “Why do you think it changed since the last time we were here?” Brent asked.

  Placing his hand on Brent’s shoulder, the Bishop said, “I’m not sure it has.”

  “Come again.”

  “What I mean is, God is only revealing the parts of this holy place that we need to see. I think it might be too much for us to handle if we were to see it in all its glory.”

  Brent nodded and accepted the explanation. Their schedule was tight and this was neither the time nor the place for a theological discussion. He turned toward the altar, blessed himself, knelt and said a prayer asking God for his help. Brent placed both hands on Archangel Michael’s sword; the Sword of Truth, which was lying on the altar. Standing, he raised the sword over his head as if to thank the archangel for the gift, but as he did, Brent felt an evil shiver go through his body. Not sure what was happening, Brent kept the sword above his head and continued to pray. The harder he prayed the worse the pain in his body became.

  Bishop Jessup couldn’t take his eyes off of Brent. He could see the pain overtake his face and watched as his friend began to scream in agony.

  “Put the sword down,” the Bishop yelled.

  Brent shook his head and screamed, “Noo.” He threw his head back and looked toward heaven and screamed out to God.

  Hearing Brent scream, Bishop Jessup dropped to his knees next to him and joined him in prayer. Brent screamed and held the sword high until he had lost both voice and strength. Dropping to his knees, Brent dropped the sword on the altar. As it struck the altar, thunder clashed and lightening flashed within the Holy of Holies.

  Brent’s face and hair were dripping in sweat. His chest was heaving in and out as he steadied himself and tried to stand up. Hands and arms shaking with an unnatural weakness, Brent forced himself to stand in front of the altar.

  “What was that all about?”

  Brent stood silent for a long time, trying to come to grips with the realization that he was going to have to leave the sword of truth. “Let’s just say it was a disagreement, and I lost.” Brent huffed.

  “You argued with the Lord?”

  Wiping the sweat of his brow, Brent shook his head trying to get his bearings. “Something like that. Now let’s get out of here, I need to rethink my plan of attack.” Turning to leave, Brent noticed more words etched in the wall above the curtain.

  The Truth is not all ways what it seems.

  Do not be deceived by the deceivers.

  God promises to comfort those who believe, />
  but for all, these are Cursed Days.

  “What do you think that means?” Bishop Jessup said as he opened the curtain for Brent to walk through.

  “I think that’s God’s answer to my question.”

  “What exactly did you ask him?” Stephen said.

  “It’s a moot point,” Brent said.

  Leading them out of the tabernacle, Brent felt the rumble of the coral wall and even before he turned around, he knew the curtain was gone and the solid wall was back.

  Brent felt alone. He hadn’t felt this alone since his grandfather was put to rest when he was seventeen.

  CHAPTER 57

  Morning came faster than expected inside Headquarters. The girls were woken by Red nudging them with the toe of his boot. “Time to wake up ladies, the future waits for no one.” Rousing both Maddie and Chloe, his men sat them up and began to take the duct tape and restraints off of them. “One wrong move and I’ll put a bullet in one of you,” Red said. “Is that understood?”

  The girls nodded their understanding while they continued to rub their extremities, trying to get the circulation back into their hands and feet.

  “You two,” he said, pointing his gun at Maddie and Chloe, “are to take me and Caleb to the vault that the lovely Ms. Sibouno mentioned last night. You, sweetie,” he said pointing to Joan “are to stay here with my men. If either of these two tries to run or to double cross me, I’ll have one of my men put a bullet in that pretty little head of yours.” Grabbing Maddie by her blouse, he pushed her and Chloe in front of him and told them to start moving.

  All of headquarters was wired, so the squad heard everything that had been said through their headsets. As soon as they received the all clear from Fitzpatrick, they made their move to position themselves at their ordered locations.

  Jefferson and Scarlet had no trouble getting to their desired locations and soon buzzed a signal back to the rest of the squad that they were in position. Seven, on the other hand, had a bit of a problem. He had made his way to the corridor just outside of Maddie’s office, and from there he could see that Red’s men had Joan tied up in a chair in the lobby of the Director’s office. Hoping that Joan somehow still had her phone on her person, he buzzed an emergency signal into it.

  Joan practically jumped out of her chair when she felt her backside vibrate. Seeing her jump, Red’s men were on her like flies on stink.

  “What you jump for?” one of them asked in broken English.

  Thinking quickly, Joan responded, “I’m not jumping, I’m cramping, if you get my drift.”

  “Drift, what is drift?”

  Knowing how men didn’t like to hear about woman problems, Joan decided to become a bit more verbal in her description. “It’s my time of the month and I need to use the bathroom.”

  The two men looked at each other and spoke in a language foreign to Joan.

  Looking back at Joan, the one said, “I don’t understand, ‘time of the month’, what that mean?”

  Looking exasperated and feigning another cramp, Joan moaned, “I’m cramping because my menstrual cycle just started. Do you understand that? I need to use the bathroom or you’re going to have some clean up to do.”

  That they understood and wanted no part of. One of the men untied Joan from her chair while the other one kept his gun trained on her. “Abe will take you to laboratory and wait outside door. If you not out in five minutes, he is ordered to go in and shoot. You understand?”

  Standing up, Joan said sarcastically, “Got it, Ishmael.”

  Joan led Abe down the hall to a bathroom away from the lobby, even though there was one just inside Maddie’s office. As soon as they were out of sight, Seven exited the tunnel and crept into the lobby. He took cover and fired two tranquilizer darts into the back of the captor’s neck. Rushing forward, he caught the man before he could fall and make any noise.

  Within a minute, the prey was bagged, tagged and put in the closet inside Maddie’s office. Closing the door to the closet, Seven could hear Joan talking louder than normal. It was his signal that they were on their way back. Closing the door to Maddie’s office, he readied himself. Keeping his gun trained on the door, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and signaled the all clear to the squad and to Joan.

  When they returned, Abe started mumbling under his breath when he didn’t see his partner. Beginning to panic, he waved his gun at Joan and started yelling in Hebrew.

  “Don’t yell at me. I was with you, remember. Maybe, he went for a walk or went into the office over there to have a look around. The director has her own refrigerator.” She put her hand up to her mouth and feigned that she was eating. “Maybe he’s helping himself to some food. If he’s like me, he’s probably starving. None of us have had anything to eat since yesterday.”

  Abe understood enough of what Joan said. He smiled and said something in Hebrew. Sneaking up on the door, so as not to be heard, Abe gently turned the knob and then burst through it, and yelled.

  The word didn’t even make it out of his mouth before Seven dropped him with a dart.

  He stood in front of the door so Joan could see him. She ran, jumped into his arms and planted a kiss on his cheek.

  “It’s about time.” She looked at the two bodies and smirked. “Men are so predictable.”

  Seven smiled, pulled his tobacco tin from his pocket, pinched off a piece, placed it in his mouth and told Joan what they had to do.

  Upon hearing the orders, she just shook her head and mumbled, “Great, just what I was looking forward to. At least it will kill my appetite.”

  Seven laughed and got to work on the next stage of the plan.

  CHAPTER 58

  Caleb pulled into the parking lot of the First Federal Bank just after 9:00 a.m.

  Red took note of the security cameras and said, “Park on the far left side of the lot. The angle of the surveillance camera makes it hard for it to reach all the way over into that corner. Statistics show that most bank robbers park directly in front of the bank they’re going to hold up. Faster ingress makes for a faster egress.”

  “Then why are we pulling way over here?’ Caleb asked.

  Before Red could answer, Maddie was already speaking. “Because we’re not breaking into the bank nor are we robbing it. We,” she said pointing to Chloe and herself, “are account holders in the bank and signers on the bank vault.” Maddie’s voice became more sarcastic as she continued. “Nobody is going in there with guns blazing like an ‘ole spaghetti western, that’s why.”

  Finished, she was afraid to look over at Red, thinking that she would be backhanded by the very quick tempered Red. Instead she found a very relaxed, smiling man who was thinking that if Maddie had been a man, she would have been good competition. In the Brotherhood, it’s all about the survival of the fittest and Red knew that Maddie was one tough adversary.

  Figuring she might as well push her luck, Maddie added as an end note, “Oh, and for those of you who are unfamiliar with the bank’s security policies, there is a three person maximum in the secured area of the bank. Since two owners of the vault are needed to access it that means that one of you will have to sit this one out.”

  “Why does it take two of you to enter the vault?” Red asked.

  “Because,” Maddie answered as she opened the car door and stood up to stretch, “there are two keys to the vault.” Before Red could even ask, Maddie verbalized his concern. “The bank manager knows that if one of us ever comes with someone other than one of the other key holders that there has been a security breach and that they are to call the police as soon as we leave the bank floor.”

  “If this is true,” Red said, straightening his priestly collar, “why tell me, why not just go through the motions and let them call the authorities?”

  “Because,” Maddie said, reaching into the car and helping Chloe out, “as you can see, my bes
t friend is with child and I’m not about to take the chance that one of you would go for the bonus shot and put a bullet in her when you hear the sirens, not to mention all the innocent people who might get caught in the crossfire. That’s why.”

  Pulling Maddie toward him, Red snarled, “You are either one of the stupidest women I have ever met, or one of the cleverest ones. I haven’t figured it out yet, but I will. For your sake, you had better pray that I decide that you are smart.”

  Walking in front of the men, the women glanced at each other and gave each other a quick half smile before putting on the full wattage and entered the bank.

  The early morning bustle had already begun when they entered the bank. The sound of a bell ringing announced their arrival before they fully walked across the threshold. “Good morning and welcome to First Federal Bank and Trust,” came a familiar voice.

  “Hi, Jody,” Chloe said with as much of a smile as she could muster knowing there was a semi-automatic handgun pointing at her.

  Looking up from her computer for the first time, Jody, the bank manager smiled a friendly smile. “Hey, you, I’m sorry for not saying hi when you first walked in.” With an overly dramatic expression, Jody looked down at her terminal, “I am so frustrated with the morning bugs in the system that I didn’t even look up.” Walking around her desk, she gave Chloe and Maddie a big hug hello. “So how’s my niece behaving?” Jody asked, lightly touching Chloe’s belly.

  Over the past year or so, Jody and her fiancé had become good friends of both the Venturis and the Olivers.

  “She’s great, hungry but great,” Chloe responded.

  In a heavy Italian accent, Red said, “I did not know that you had a sister working in the bank?”

  Chloe explained that Jody was not her sister just a good friend and that she called her unborn child her niece.