The Belial Stone (The Belial Series)

by Brady, R. D.

  Now, sitting at the old kitchen table, Patrick pushed the food on his plate around before giving up. He couldn’t stomach it. He hadn’t protected her. From what they had figured out, she had, in fact, protected him.

  He was sitting here safe and sound. And they didn’t even know where she was. And worse, now her life hung in the balance against the lives of all the men at the site, including Jake’s brother.

  Jake, Yoni, and Henry sat with him. Their food grew cold along with his. The security detail had been split into two shifts and half patrolled the new homestead while the other half slept. No one was talking.

  They had been debating what to do next. Henry argued they should just follow the instructions and do nothing for now. Yoni voted for finding Laney. Jake had stayed silent. Now they all sat watching their plates.

  Patrick watched Jake, who sat across from him. He’d said very little since they’d received the call about Laney. The failure to protect her weighed on him. Patrick didn’t know how to lessen that burden. It hadn’t been his fault, but he knew Jake was blaming himself. Hell, they all seemed to be blaming themselves.

  He took a deep breath. The next step was up to him. He couldn’t add the burden of this decision to anyone else. It was his to bear.

  He cleared his throat. “You all know that Laney isn’t just my niece. She is, in every practical way, my daughter. And I know her better than almost anyone. I remember this one time when she was eleven years old, a kid at school was being bullied. Laney wasn’t even friends with the child, but it didn’t stop her from intervening even though there were three bullies. She got a black eye that day. They told Laney to stay out of it and if she tried to stop them again, they’d do worse to her the next day. So the next day came, and what do you think she did?”

  “Tried to stop them again,” Jake said, a smile forming on his lips.

  Patrick smiled. “Yup. She didn’t go in alone, though. She brought backup in the form of her friend, Darby. The other child didn’t get beat up that day, but Laney and Darby took a good few hits. Of course, they gave a good few as well. When she came home that night, I asked her what had happened. She confessed the whole story to me. I asked her why she took the bullies on again, even though she knew she was going to get hurt. She told me that life wasn’t about trying to avoid getting hurt, it was supposed to be about doing the right thing. And keeping that child from getting hurt was the right thing to do.”

  “Her childhood…” His words disappeared for a moment, and he struggled to control his emotions. “Her childhood was not easy. But it gave her a very strong sense of right and wrong. And she’s lived her life staying pretty much on the right side, even when it’s been at great personal cost. She’s always trying to help the person who needs the most help. But I think you’ve all seen that already.”

  The men nodded back at him.

  Patrick took a deep breath, hating the words that he needed to say. “So, I’ve been trying to think of what Laney would want us to do. And the answer is obvious, although it kills me to say it: She would want us to help those men in the compound, regardless of the risk to her. It’s the greater good.”

  His hand was unsteady as he raised his teacup to his lips and took a small sip. “We need to follow through with the plan to take out the compound. And we need to do it fast, because they won’t be expecting that. They’ll expect us to take time, to re-group. We need to move now.”

  “Are you sure, Patrick?” Henry asked. “We don’t need to make any decision right now. We can take some time.”

  “And if Gideon gets the stone?” Patrick asked. “What then?”

  “We don’t know for sure it’s even there,” Jake said.

  Patrick looked at each man at the table before he answered. “We have to work on the assumption that it is. Do you really want to bet the fate of the world on the possibility that it isn’t? That Azazyel has gone to all these lengths without being sure he’d find it?”

  Jake stared at him and then looked away, his jaw hardening. He shook his head.

  Patrick stood up. “You all know as well as I do, the sooner we do this, the better chance we have at succeeding. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll leave you to finish planning while I get a little fresh air.”

  Patrick could feel their eyes on him as he walked out into the night. He turned right, heading around the side of the house.

  Once out of sight of the windows, he stopped and leaned against the building for support. He wrapped his arms around his stomach as if he could keep himself from splitting in two.

  Tears streamed down his cheeks. “Oh, God, please protect her and keep her safe.”

  CHAPTER 69

  Laney spent the rest of the day brushing and shoveling dirt from the megalith with Tom. Her back ached from being hunched over. Her hands were covered in blisters.

  A layer of horror blanketed her as she worked. During the day, she’d seen enough brutality and its aftereffects to last a lifetime.

  At the same time, she couldn’t help but be amazed by the history in front of her. The megalith she was uncovering depicted what appeared to be a history of man. The pictographs seemed to support Cayce’s explanation of how humans came into existence.

  There were depictions of the thought forms that, at first, took residence in animals. Then human bodies were created and they took residence there, followed by a time of peace and harmony.

  Later on in humanity’s timeline, others descended from the sky, bringing violence and despair. The fallen angels. Destruction began the moment they set down. With their arrival, the frames shifted from the pictures of peace and harmony to frame after frame of violence. The hieroglyphs depicted murders, wars, human sacrifice. That was where the depictions stopped, unfortunately; the rest remained buried.

  Throughout the megalith, there were also depictions of the Belial Stones. At first, they appeared to be revered and worshiped. With the arrival of the fallen angels, though, emissions from the stones were used in violent acts.

  There was nothing, though, in the megalith that indicated where the stones might be found. And with the guards constantly looking for the slightest deviation from work, she hadn’t been able to take a long look at any of the other megaliths near her.

  Laney rubbed the back of her neck, trying in vain to work out the kinks as the sun began to sink in the sky. They couldn’t work much longer with the light dimming. Her hands had started to cramp severely a few hours ago. Now, they were practically numb, which was actually a blessing because it was less painful.

  The trade-off, though, was that she was having difficulty holding onto her tools. And her back was screaming from being hunched over for so long. She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to stand up once they finally allowed her to.

  She couldn’t remember ever being so physically exhausted. Tom had seemed to retreat into his own little world, but Laney knew he must be in even more pain than her.

  As the sun finally slipped below the horizon, Laney looked up expectantly. She breathed deep. The work would have to end now.

  Spotlights glared on across the enclosure, bathing the dig site in high-voltage light. She looked around in stunned disbelief, her hope plummeting.

  Lights were strung across the entire enclosure. She hadn't noticed them before. Despair threatened to send her into unending river of tears.

  Beyond defeated, she picked up her brush and began removing more dirt from the granite in front of her. When will this day end?

  CHAPTER 70

  The plans for the assault on the compound lay on the kitchen table. They would go in just before dawn. Henry was busy explaining the plan to Jordan, who had just returned from the other house. The police were still investigating, and they weren’t buying Jordan’s story completely. But Jordan had been able to prove that he’d just flown in, and they’d been unable to hold him.

  Jake tried to focus on the conversation, but Laney’s face and then Tom’s kept flashing through his mind, distracting him.
/>   Henry put his hand on Jake’s shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine.”

  Henry didn’t say anything, just waited.

  Jake sighed. “What do you want me to say, Henry? We’re going to go rescue the men from the compound and by doing so, sign Laney’s death warrant. So, yeah, I’m great.”

  “I know it's an impossible choice. If we go in, we're signing her death warrant. If we don't, we're signing the death warrant of every man in that place. Tell me what you want me to do, Jake, and I’ll do it. If you don’t want us to go in, we won’t.”

  Jake raked a hand through his hair. “How can I say that? Tom’s in there and I’ve seen what those men are going through. How can I say that saving them is wrong? I just don’t understand why Laney has to pay the price for their lives.”

  Jake’s cell phone rang and he looked down. Yoni. He’d gone to scout out the compound one last time to make sure there’d been no changes in security. “Yeah?”

  “She’s here, Jake,” Yoni said.

  “What?”

  “Laney. She’s at the compound.”

  “Are you sure?” Jake asked, not daring to hope.

  “I’m sure. I got a good look at her when they escorted the prisoners to the sleeping quarters.”

  “Does she look okay?”

  “No noticeable injuries,” Yoni said, his tone upbeat.

  “Thank God.” Jake released a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

  “‘Thank God’? I think that Padre has been a good influence on you.”

  “What about security? Any changes?”

  “Yeah. They’ve beefed it up. There’s an extra patrol truck on the fence and more guards at the enclosure. We’re going to need more men.”

  “Okay. We’ll figure it out.” Jake hung up.

  He turned to find Henry grinning at him. “So, now it looks like we’re saving everybody?”

  Jake returned the grin “Yup."

  Then the grin slid from his face. “But they’ve beefed up security. Yoni thinks we need more men.”

  “We can’t get them in until tomorrow, at the earliest.”

  “Why do we need more men?” Jordan asked.

  “They’ve increased security at the site,” Jake replied, staring at the map.

  With a smile, Jordan pointed to the sleeping enclosure on the compound map. “I think we have more than enough men. We just need to get them weapons.”

  CHAPTER 71

  The living room was a buzz of activity as they made the final preparations for the assault. Jake finished packing the ammunition into his bag. Yoni was working on the assault team’s communications. Patrick was familiarizing himself with the weapons they would be using, and Henry was reviewing the plan, adjusting as he saw necessary.

  Jake tested the pack for weight. Good. He glanced over at Patrick.

  The news that Laney was at the compound had given Patrick a renewed determination. If anyone got between Patrick and his goal of saving Laney, God help them -- although Jake liked to think that with the Father on their team, God wasn’t going to be helping the other side much.

  Even without divine intervention, though, he had a feeling that Father Patrick was not a man that you crossed easily. Much like his niece.

  Jake’s thoughts darkened when he thought of Laney being caught in the middle of the fight tonight. It wasn’t that she was female – Jake had worked with plenty of women in the military, and he knew they were more than capable of handling themselves. And he’d seen Laney’s skills first-hand. There was just something about Laney that made him want to protect her.

  And then there was Tom. What kind of condition would he be in? Was he even still alive? If he was would he still be after the assault?

  Jake shook his head, clearing it of doubts. He needed to focus on the plan, and in a few hours, he’d have both of them safely out.

  CHAPTER 72

  Laney pulled the threadbare blanket more tightly around her, trying to stave off some of the cold. She knew it was a wasted effort. Her teeth continued to chatter and she shivered violently. The flimsy material could not combat the steadily dropping temperature.

  She and the men who’d been working the day shift had been brought back to the sleep enclosure only a few minutes ago. They’d been given a cup full of what could only be described as gruel. It seemed to be made of lukewarm water and beef gristle.

  Laney was starving, but she only managed to choke down half of it before giving up. The man across from her had stared hard at her cup. She’d handed it to him without a word. He swallowed it down quickly with a nod of thanks. After their two-minute dinner, a guard barked at them to go to bed.

  Tom had led Laney to a bedroll and taken the one next to her. First, though, he’d helped his friend Seeley find a spot. The man seemed to be only physically present, as if his mind had escaped elsewhere. In this place, that was probably a blessing.

  As Laney curled up on the bedroll, she was sure she would fall asleep as soon as she hit the ground. Her bones practically wept from exhaustion. But she hadn’t counted on how hard the ground would be, or how cold. The bedroll was barely thicker than a bed sheet. It didn’t seem to keep any of the cold from seeping into her.

  She had been trying to sleep for thirty minutes now. She was so cold and shivering so hard, it had proven impossible. She'd tried to hold back the tears, but she didn't have the strength to fight that either. She felt weak for crying, and selfish. These men had been here for who knew how long and here she was, crying like a baby, on her first night.

  Hearing a rustle behind her, she glanced over her shoulder. Tom had moved his bedroll right beside hers, so that his back was to her back. The man whom she’d given her dinner also moved closer to her, his back now right in front of her. The men sandwiched Laney between them. After a few minutes, the cold tremors subsided. She wasn’t actually warm, but she didn’t fear freezing to death, either.

  Laney mumbled her thanks. Neither man heard her. They were already asleep. And a few minutes, so was she.

  CHAPTER 73

  Arthur Priddle paced along the edge of dig site twenty-one. He’d been hovering around it for most of the afternoon and evening. Fists clenched, he struggled to keep from yelling at the workers to hurry up. He’d yelled himself hoarse already. He’d gone so far as to push one to the ground and kick him in the back when he scratched the megalith with his shovel.

  All he’d accomplished was stressing out the workers. They’d become clumsy and slowed down to compensate. He was aware enough to realize he needed to pull back. He towered above them now, practically biting his tongue off to keep from speaking. It was a Herculean effort on his part.

  The megaliths at this site included more depictions of the Belial Stone than any other site so far. He was convinced they would find one here.

  If they ever finish excavating it! He glared down at the workers, as if he could will them to work faster.

  He paused in his pacing to wipe his brow with the grimy handkerchief he'd shoved into his back pocket. The Senator kept pushing him for more results, and didn’t understand that conducting an archaeological dig was not like ordering at a restaurant. Sometimes you just had to take what you got.

  Today, Senator Kensington had even mentioned replacing him with someone who could get results. Replace him! After all the work he’d put into this site. Well, that simply wasn’t going to happen. If he had to personally beat each of these workers within an inch of their worthless lives to get results, he’d do it.

  He heard the scrape of a shovel against a hard surface again. Whirling around to scream at the offender, he noticed a flurry of movement near one of the megaliths. Grabbing his bag of tools, he clambered down the ramp and made his way to the towering pillar.

  As he approached, he saw that unlike most of the pillars, this one had something jutting out of it. But the object was smaller than any relief they had seen so far. Shoving the man who had been brushing
the object aside, Priddle carefully pulled his own brush from his pocket and began removing dirt.

  He carefully probed the object. So far, the only objects that projected out from the pillars were animal reliefs, but this was no relief. It was made of a different material, both hard and smooth.

  With reverence, he brushed at the thin layer of dirt that remained. Slowly, a diamond-shaped object with a crystalline structure, about the size of a softball, was revealed.

  “Camera,” he demanded, holding out his hand. It was placed in his shaking hand. He’d found it. Finally.

  He quickly took shots of the stone from every angle. He removed a small chisel and hammer from his tool bag. Ever so gently, he pried the stone loose.

  Holding it up, he could just make out the crisscrossing patterns within the six-sided figure. Surprise flooded him. It was warm to the touch. Rummaging in his bag, he pulled out a piece of burlap. With infinite care, he wrapped the stone, still able to feel its warmth through the fabric.

  He nestled it to his side and headed back up the ramp. He would call the Senator immediately. No one was going to replace him now.

  CHAPTER 74

  Kensington arrived at the dig site just before five a.m. He’d been awoken by his aid thirty minutes ago. At first, he’d yelled at the man for interrupting his sleep. When he’d found out that Priddle had called from the dig site and wanted him out there, he’d yelled at the man for not waking him sooner.

  Ignoring the workers who crossed his path, he strode through the enclosure entrance and towards the RV. Not bothering to knock, he threw open the door and climbed in.

  The brightness of the trailer was blinding. Once his eyes adjusted, he focused on Priddle, who was sitting at the table, a jeweler’s monocle to his eye.