by Michael Todd
Right, and usually somewhere in their point is peace. For some reason, humans believe you can achieve peace with violence. I am human—well, sort of—and I can’t wrap my head around that.
It’s shock value, sister. They want you to be afraid. They rule like that in hell, too, maintaining power by fear instead of trust. What’s comical to me is how your people look down so hard on the way hell operates—even the way religion operates—yet they use the same tactics up here. Rule by fear, follow because of fear, vote because of fear. It’s all the same tactic, just watered down. You don’t torture people in the town square anymore… Well, at least in this country you don’t. But it doesn’t make drone strikes, war, or murder any different. It’s still an eye for an eye.
That was intense, Pandora. She found her way back to the Stewart and walked into the lobby with her coat pulled tightly around her. The day manager looked up and nodded, too busy with the line of people at the concierge desk to stop and talk to her. She was glad. She just wanted to get up to the room, change, and get some food. She was starving, and living off Krispy Kremes wasn’t cutting it anymore.
Her room was quiet when she got upstairs, and she tossed her heavy coat on the couch. Katie looked longingly at the bed, wishing she could take a nap, but her hunger was in the way. She pulled off her vest and belt, and carefully set her large pistols on the bedside table. She selected a pair of black wide-legged pants and a white button-up blouse, pausing to rub her stomach.
“If it’s not you hounding me for food, it’s my own body,” she grumbled out loud.
At least you know you’ll never go hungry. There will always be someone reminding you to stuff your face. Where are we going for lunch, anyway?
We… Katie grunted as she tightened the strap on her small holster, are going to get a delicious Italian lunch.
Oooh, it’s been a while since we had Italian, and I’ve heard New York is an excellent place to find authentic Italian food.
That’s what I’ve heard too, which is why we’re going to chow down.
Katie pulled on her business jacket and checked in the mirror to make sure it hid the smaller pistol she’d strapped to her hip. She still looked nice, but her outfit wouldn’t hold her back if she needed to run. These days, she could never tell when she would find herself in some sort of battle. Apparently, it wasn’t just when the demons called to her. Now it was a wide variety of criminals. She reached up to smooth her hair back into a ponytail.
You look like you work on Wall Street, or even worse, like one of those FBI agents right out of training. Hello, Clarice!
Katie snickered. Well, then I make the FBI look damn good. And nobody will be pairing me with a dry white wine, I can guarantee it.
Hell, yeah.
Katie checked her wallet to make sure that she had cash and her card was still in there, then put her phone in her back pocket and flicked off the lights. She grabbed the Do Not Disturb sign from her doorknob and hung it on the door outside so the maids wouldn’t come and freak out when they found her weapons and bloodstained clothes. That was the one thing she struggled with when staying at hotels—she had to be careful of the most unsuspecting threats. The government might have put her up in the Stewart, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t cause one hell of an issue for her while she was here.
Katie glanced toward Angie’s room, but the Do Not Disturb was on the door so she took the elevator down to the first floor and did a walk-by of the computers. She didn’t see Angie anywhere, but she wasn’t worried. She figured the woman was holed up in her room working on her new computer. She had given her a shitload of things to accomplish. The donut list alone would take her hours, especially in a city like New York where there was something to eat every five feet.
She took the escalator to the lobby and smiled at the concierge on her way outside to grab a cab. Lunch was just waiting for her, and she could already taste the ravioli.
Calvin and Sofia drove quietly in the rental car with the windows cracked and music playing. The sun had gone down a couple of hours before, and Calvin blinked his tired eyes at the blurry lines in the road. Beyond the road, the ocean crashed against the shore, and the smell of saltwater filled the car. Calvin squinted to his left, seeing a sign for the next turnpike with the symbol for a layover area on it. He slowed the car and turned off his lights as he eased them into the small space. It was secluded, with several palm trees shielding them from the road.
Calvin yawned as he cut the engine. “Figured it would be a good time to stop and sleep for a little bit.”
Sofia yawned in response and stretched out her arms as best she could. “I’m good with that.”
They were far enough off the road to be safe and close enough to the shore to enjoy the sound of the waves washing up on the sand. Calvin leaned his seat back and put his arms under his head, looking at the sky through the moonroof. He closed his eyes and listened to the ocean, pretending for a moment that he was still in his hotel room enjoying his vacation.
“I’m sorry I ruined your time off,” Sofia whispered, leaning the seat back and turning on her side. “I know you must work a lot, with everything going on right now.”
Calvin opened his eyes. “It’s all right. That was still more vacation than I’ve had in a long time.”
“Tell me about your life,” Sofia pressed.
Calvin turned over on his side and faced Sofia. “Honestly? I’ve been a mercenary for a very long time. I was SWAT back in the day. One day we got a call, and I went out with my boys and a priest that we always had with us. Now, don’t underestimate that—this priest was a badass. Well, the entire team except me and the priest were killed, and that was when I got infected. Korbin, the old leader of the team, came right in, picked us up, and took us in. It was history after that. I became a Korbin’s Killer, and that transitioned into Katie’s Killers. We’ve been part of so many incursions, including the big one—the one that brought demons to the foreground of the media.”
Sofia tilted her head in surprise. “I guess, like so many others, I didn’t realize you guys were out there doing all this and saving so many lives. I can’t imagine how hard it has to have been for you.”
“It was rough for a while, but we became a family. We work together, play together, and make as much out of our lives as we can between the fights.”
“Have you lost a lot of those people?”
“Yeah.” He sighed, thinking about the family he’d lost along the way. “Not all to death. Some were exorcised and sent back to live their lives, but yeah, others were killed in the line of duty. My team is now four people. One of them isn’t a fighter, one of them is intel, and then, there’s Katie, who has stood by us all for quite a while now. On Incursion Day I watched men and women go into battle and make the ultimate sacrifice for the future of mankind. That’s how I get past the loss. I remember that what we’re doing is good. That it’s for the future of this planet. I couldn’t ask for a better calling in life, and I think Katie and the others along the way have felt that way too.”
Sofia gave Calvin a gentle smile and turned over on her back. “You have had quite the life.”
“What about you?” Calvin asked. “What’s your story?”
“Oh, nothing as crazy as yours.” She laughed. “My parents live in Mexico City. My father is an architect, trying to make Mexico more beautiful one building at a time, and my mother is a doctor. They work well together, always trying to make the world a better place. Kind of like you.”
Calvin smiled and nestled into the seat, fascinated to hear how this girl got to that moment, running from a drug lord and trying to make her life right.
“I went to the University of San Diego to get a better education. It was easy for me to get back into Mexico with my passport, and the college wasn’t too far away from family. I started out as a medical student, wanting to follow in my mother’s footsteps, but once I got into the program and learned the politics of it all, I decided it wasn’t for me. My father urged
me to take architecture, but it was just so boring. I didn’t have a spark for it at all.”
“Sometimes it’s hard for us to move out of our parents’ shadows to find what we really want to do.”
“It is.” She smiled. “But I finally figured it out, and it’s so exciting to me. I chose genetic medical engineering. It’s fascinating, especially with all the new information coming out about demons.”
Sofia looked at Calvin and caught the glint of red in his eyes. She grimaced, realizing that the information she had just mentioned mostly came from the R&D on humans infected with demons. She’d heard how the infected felt about that, and it wasn’t always positive.
“I’m sorry.” She grimaced again. “I completely forgot that you were infected, and I went on a crazy rant about doing research on people like you.”
Calvin shrugged, giving her a reassuring smile. “It’s not an ideal situation, but perhaps we can make some lemonade out of lemons. We know that being infected is not a positive thing for a person. Most of us in the mercenary circle dream of a day when we won’t be infected anymore, and the research offers us the opportunity to explore what really happens to us when the infection occurs. Hopefully, it will lead to a cure or a treatment that will help those who cannot help themselves. Either way, it’s not a secret that this goes on.”
Sofia nodded and reached up to cover her mouth as she yawned. Calvin smiled and clicked off the interior light, letting out a deep breath. They had another hard day of driving ahead of them, and he needed to make sure he was rested and ready to hit the ground running. He didn’t want to give Manuel any more time to catch up to them than he could help.
“Get some sleep, Sofia. We’ll have plenty of time to talk in the morning.”
“Good night, Calvin.”
Calvin turned over in his seat and tried to get as comfortable as he could. He was concerned about not having anyone on lookout, but they both needed their rest. He’d been starting to nod off while driving, which wasn’t like him at all.
Don’t worry, I don’t sleep, Marty whispered as if Sofia could hear him. I’ll stay up and keep watch. You let your body rest. I gave you as much energy as I could while you were driving.
Thanks, Marty. Calvin yawned. I appreciate it a lot.
Just those words made Marty feel just a little better, after being called a bitch.
There was no one inside the tall old vacant building on the outskirts of Brooklyn except a few vagrants and the occasional rat or stray cat. The stairs to the basement were always locked, but there was one who had the key. In the depths of the damp, dark cellar, another leader stood with his arms crossed, facing a wall lit by candles.
He turned as footsteps approached, and three men holding flashlights and looking slightly uneasy emerged from the shadows.
The leader greeted them with a wavering voice. “You came.”
“Of course,” one of the men answered. “Inshallah.”
“Good. You’ll be accepting the demons, and after the events this afternoon, it all may fall on your shoulders.”
“We heard about what happened at the mosque, as well as the capturing of the demons and the killing of the humans by that mercenary. We stayed away from the mosque today, and don’t plan on going back. It was all a cover anyway, to help do your bidding. No one will trust us now, knowing we had strong ties to the Imam. Surely, they will not welcome us back to the mosque.”
“No, they most likely won’t,” the leader replied, rubbing his chin and pacing back and forth. “However, that does not stop our mission. The Times Square event has of course been stopped. The police know too much about it, and extra security is already in place in that area. I have come up with another plan, though. Something that will really shake this country to the core.”
The three men moved closer, curious as to what the new plan would be. They were all dedicated to the cause, some for misguided beliefs and the others for the opportunity to bring forth hell on earth.
The leader didn’t care much for their motivations. He just wanted the task to be completed.
“We are going to time our effort for when the President of the United States comes to New York. He’s scheduled to arrive just two days from now, and I figured that would be the perfect time. We will lie low to convince the authorities that the threat level has been eliminated, then rise up just in time to take down the leader of the most influential country in the world. We will strike fear into their hearts.”
The three men listened intently, none of them fearful of the task ahead. They had been chosen for a reason, and the leader was glad they were still there to carry it out. They had planned to be at the mosque, but by the time they’d arrived the police were there and the Imam was dead. They had discreetly scattered before anyone could notice them or point them out.
“You will be the new champions of our revolution, and when the dust settles, a new country will rise from the ashes of the infidels.”
19
Calvin gripped the steering wheel loosely as they cruised down the road, heading for the Mexico/United States border. He was shocked at how well rested he felt, even with Marty waking him up before the sun had crested the horizon. He was glad of the early start. It got them on the road sooner. He let Sofia sleep for a little longer, allowing her to wake up on her own as they were driving along.
He reached down for the coffee he had gotten from the gas station, and then his phone began to ring. Calvin looked over as Sofia stirred, and she blinked at him sleepily as he picked it up to look at the screen. A deep breath escaped him when he saw the general’s cell phone number on the screen. He pressed the accept call button and put the phone to his ear, having a good idea of why he was calling.
“Calvin,” he boomed. “What are you up to?”
Calvin smiled. “Not much, General. What can I help you with?”
“The strangest thing just happened; some information about you just came across my desk. Apparently, there are two drug lords in Cabo San Lucas looking for you. What the hell are you doing on your vacation?”
Calvin glanced at Sofia and sighed. “I seem to have picked up one of their prized possessions.”
The general put a hand to his forehead, shaking his head. Calvin wasn’t going to change anything he was doing. He’d learned that trying to talk a mercenary out of doing something once they had their mind set on it was useless. Instead, he had to do what he could to help Calvin and the “prized possession” he was transporting.
“Well, be aware, son, that your face is plastered all over the border on their side. So, when you get there, you’re going to have a firefight of mass proportions. Do you want us to be ready to pull you out of there?”
Calvin thought about it for a minute; a way to get them both out to safety. However, he was pissed at what had transpired. They had taken a woman hostage, beat her, and put her in harm’s way, all because they had money. Calvin couldn’t let that go so easily. He was determined to put the hurt on those people so they never tried to hurt Sofia or girls like her again.
“I’ll make sure the woman is safe, but I’m coming through that border.”
“I’ll let my friends on the border know to stay out of the way.” The general chuckled. “Don’t kill anyone who doesn’t need killing.”
“I won’t kill anyone who doesn’t try to kill me first,” Calvin replied.
Both men knew that the drug lords and their people were out for blood, and would do everything in their power to take Calvin down. He had not only taken Sofia away from Manuel, but he had killed the other drug lord’s men. That was a huge deal. Having one drug lord after you was bad enough, but Calvin was facing the wrath of two.
“Good luck, son. I’ll see you on the other side.”
With that, the general hung up, and Calvin considered his next move. He wasn’t going to let Sofia get hurt, but it would take some help from his family to make sure that didn’t happen. Calvin glanced at his phone as he drove along, scrolling down to Katie’s number.<
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I sure as hell hope she’s ready for this.
Katie sat in her living room, still full from lunch earlier. She and Pandora had gone nuts and ordered a ton of stuff, just like that night in Vegas when she could barely walk back to the SUV. It felt good to get some real food in her stomach. Pandora had made sure she didn’t feel the pain from her actions, but she grabbed the bottle of Pepto from the side table and took a big swig to help. Just then her phone buzzed on the table in front of her and she leaned forward, seeing Calvin’s name.
The prodigal black man returns, Pandora exclaimed excitedly.
Katie smiled and answered with a chirp in her voice, “Hello, brother from another mother. How are they hanging?”
He chuckled. “Tell Pandora they’re hanging side by side, just like they should.”
“Good, good,” Katie replied. “I was afraid all that time in the sand with the beach bunnies had put a hurtin’ on ya.”
“Well, about that…”
“Uh-oh.” Katie sat up, putting the Pepto down on the table. “What’s going on?
“I don’t really have the time to go into detail,” Calvin replied.
“Give me as much as you can.”
“I saved a woman from a drug lord who was trying to kidnap her, but in the process killed two of his men.”
“Is she all right?”
“Yeah, she’s here with me, but that isn’t the whole story.”
“Go on.”
“She happened to be the girlfriend of a rival drug lord, who beat her and pretty much held her hostage in Cabo. Now the two drug lords have joined forces for the first time in their lives, and they’re hell-bent on taking me down.”
Uh-oh. Pandora actually sounded concerned.
Katie groaned. “Did you call the general?”
“The general called me. He got a memo saying the drug lords had my picture, and they and their men were going to be waiting at the border for us when we get there.”
