Hell's Fury

by Davis, Dee

  Finally, unwillingly, he’d accepted her moratorium on emotion and settled in to prepare for the caper. Faust had amazingly managed to get everything David had requested, and it had taken most of the afternoon to put together their final plans.

  And now he was here, in the club, waiting for confirmation that everyone was in place. "I’m in, and on my way up," Faust said, his voice barely discernible over the frenetic discord of the club.

  "Jessie, you there?" David prompted—holding his breath as he waited.

  "Yes. I’m in position." Just the sound of her voice made his heart rate slow considerably. "To the left of the elevator."

  He shifted his gaze to run the length of the dance floor, settling at last on Jessie standing in the shadows. She held a drink in one hand, and she was smiling at a man with a green blazer and equally garish tie. Jealousy reared its ugly head for a moment, and then David quashed the emotion. Jessie was working and if he didn’t do the same, it would all be for nothing.

  The far elevator doors opened and Faust emerged with a crowd of laughing women, two of them, seeming to hang on his every word. They stood talking for a moment and then separated. The girls heading for the bar, Faust passing Jessie to station himself just to the left of the passageway leading to the private elevator to the third floor.

  There’d been no movement at all toward the elevator. No one coming or going. Only a single stationary guard blocking the entrance. Hopefully, if Faust’s beauties did their magic, that obstacle would soon be removed. "Guard’s in place. He hasn’t moved since I got here," David whispered into the microphone, nodding at a man who was pushing past him in search of the restrooms.

  "Anita and Analise should be providing their little side show in the next few minutes, so everyone get ready to move. David, I’ll give you the go."

  "Right." He fingered the bag he carried over his shoulder. It was a sleek leather style favored by Italian men. Inside, in carefully padded compartments, were his drills and the components he needed to break into the vault as well as the explosives Faust had secured. Thank God the club hadn’t employed the use of screening devices. Although at most it probably only would have meant separating the various components. "Jessie, you set?"

  "I’m ready," Jessie answered, her voice holding a note of excitement. In that way they were two of a kind. The rush of adrenaline as addictive as the challenge. She’d moved closer to Faust, making a play of finishing her drink and handing the glass off to a passing waitress.

  David pulled his attention away from her, turning back to the bar and the two women Faust had brought. They were laughing at something, one of them practically falling out of her dress. But then, that was the point. Distraction.

  Suddenly the brunette pushed the blonde, as if urging her on to something. The blonde threw back her hair, and then before anyone had time to realize what she intended, she leaped up onto the bar and started to gyrate in time to the music.

  Patrons turned, at first surprised and then egging her on as she started to move more sensually. Her friend, apparently not to be left out of the party, joined her barside in a similar undulation, both of them already beginning to shed their clothing.

  Leave it to Faust to come up with a lascivious red herring.

  The crowd surged forward, cheering and leering, everyone trying to get a view of the now topless women.

  The security man responded to a command in his ear and began to push his way forward toward the bar, the two goons stationed at the other elevators also making their way toward the impromptu go-go dancers.

  "He’s on the move," David said, already slipping past the fracas into the hallway leading to the private elevator.

  "I’m right behind you," Jessie said, appearing around the corner, followed by Faust. Faust stopped at the entrance, keeping an eye on the security guards. He’d stay there, playing the part of a drunk, and then once they made it safely to the cellar, he’d make his way to the rendezvous.

  Jessie stopped just short of the elevator. "I’m afraid we’ve got a little problem. I prepared a video loop for the security cameras in the cellar, but nothing for this camera. It wasn’t on the schematic." She turned to David, her bottom lip caught in her teeth.

  "No problem," David said, shooting her a smile. "I’ve got it covered." He reached in his pocket for the retractable mirror he’d stashed there. The idea had been to use it if Jessie failed to disarm the infrared system. But it would work here as well.

  "All I have to do is extend the mirror and then slip it into place. Should be relatively easy." At least in theory. He pulled out the extension arm and then, waiting until the camera had panned away from the elevator, he lifted the mirror up and slid it into place just as the lens moved back, the reflection bouncing the eye of the camera into an empty corner.

  It wouldn’t work for long, but they only needed a few seconds. "You’re on," he said, waving Jessie toward the door. "Go." The camera whirred as it started to pan away from the mirror.

  "Got it," she whispered, the elevator doors sliding open on cue. Faust held to his post, gesturing for David to move quickly. He maneuvered past the camera and then disengaged the mirror, waiting for the machine to continue its pan before sprinting aboard.

  The doors slid shut, and the two of them rode up in silence. Stage one was accomplished but they still had a hell of a long way to go. The ride was quick and fortunately not recorded. Apparently, Braun believed his elevator was safe from infiltration. But then he hadn’t counted on Jessie. The doors opened on an empty corridor, the door across the way closed, its window black.

  "All right, we’ve only got a few minutes," David said. "Faust, is everything still clear?"

  "So far so good," came the answer.

  "All right, I’m off to the security station," David said, opening his case and quickly assembling the parts of his hidden gun. "You head for the computer."

  "Already one step ahead of you." Jessie smiled, opening her purse to hand him the video loop.

  He nodded and moved down the hall, his mind laying out the schematic he’d studied. The security room was open, the guards safely downstairs. It only took a minute to switch the tape. Out in the hall again, he worked his way back the way he had come, checking for unwanted visitors before stepping into the main office, looking for Jessie.

  The room was empty, and his heart plummeted. "Damn it, Jessie, where are you?" he hissed into the microphone.

  "Inner office," she said over the static. "Through the double doors."

  "Right," he mumbled, more to himself than to her, "I’m on my way." He checked the hallway again, just to make certain everything was still a go, and then walked to the back of the room and pushed through the double doors.

  Jessie, engrossed in the computer, did not even bother to look up as he stepped inside.

  "You need to pay more attention. What if it hadn’t been me?"

  "But it was you," she said, with maddening simplicity.

  He watched her work for a moment or two, then moved so that he could see into the outer office. "Faust, everything still okay?"

  No response.

  Jessie looked up with a frown, opening her mouth to speak. David shook his head. "Faust?" he whispered again.

  "Sorry," came the reply. "I was too close to security to take the chance of talking. They’re interviewing patrons now. Apparently someone’s purse was stolen."

  "Faust...," Jessie scolded.

  "We needed the further distraction. So I improvised."

  "So we’re still good."

  "Yes, but I wouldn’t dawdle."

  David shot a look at Jessie, who nodded reassuringly. "Almost there. Just need to make sure I’ve got the command right." She sat back, closing her eyes, almost as if she were in a trance of some kind. David shivered. There was something otherworldly about her expression.

  "Jess, are you all right?" He was across the room in an instant, his hands on her shoulders. Her eyes flickered open, at first confused and then hardening to something he
couldn’t quite define. Regret, anger ... maybe both.

  "I’m fine. Just making sure I got everything we needed." She pulled away, turning off the computer. "Let’s get out of here." She brushed past him, and he followed her, his brain scrambling to understand what had just happened.

  They stopped in the hallway, checking the main elevators for signs of life. Nothing moved. Jessie reached into her pocket, producing the latex digit she’d jerry-rigged with Braun’s fingerprint. He wasn’t convinced it would work, but she seemed certain that it would. So who was he to be a doubting Thomas?

  "David, you there?" Faust’s voice crackled over the wireless. "Afraid you’ve got hostiles on the way."

  David pushed Jessie toward the cellar elevator, following behind, keeping his gun trained on the main elevator’s doors. At first he thought maybe it was a false alarm, but then he heard the shoosh of the doors opening.

  "Jessie, move," he whispered into the microphone. "We’ve got company."

  Jessie disappeared around the corner, and he followed suit, holding his position as two of Braun’s men emerged from the elevator, followed by the man himself.

  David froze, a lash of anger whipping through him. His quarry was standing not fifteen feet away. In his mind’s eye, he’d pictured the devil. But instead Braun had the anemic bearing of inbred aristocracy. David leveled the gun, narrowing his eyes to take the shot. All he needed was for Braun’s goons to step out of the way.

  One shot and ...

  "Not here, David," Jessie said, her hand on his arm.

  "You need to get out of here," he hissed, still watching his quarry. They’d moved closer now, and he could see that at least three of the entourage held guns.

  "No. I’m not leaving you," she whispered. "It won’t help Jason if you get yourself killed trying to take Braun out. You’ll get your chance. You just need to wait until the odds are in your favor."

  Her voice seemed to come to him through a haze, his rage threatening to engulf him, but some part of his mind recognized the truth of her words. There were at least three armed men, not the best of odds. He might not care about himself, but he cared about Jessie.

  Gut churning, he lowered his gun and turned to follow her into the now open cellar elevator. "It’s going to be all right," she whispered as the doors slid shut. "I promise, David, we’ll make it right."

  With one touch, she’d managed to banish the fog, send his hatred scuttling back under its proverbial rock. But he knew it was only a temporary reprieve. It would be back. And when it came again, not even Jessie would be able to stop it.

  *****

  Jessie fought to control her tumbling thoughts. She’d known, the minute they’d found out that Braun was connected to Jason, that David would want to kill him. But she hadn’t expected the depth of his hatred. His rage had almost had a physical presence, sucking the energy from the room. It frightened her. Not for herself, but for David.

  It made him reckless, to the point that not even life mattered. Had she not managed to stop him, Braun would be dead, but so would David. And she’d led him here. Dragged him deeper into his own hell. Without Faust’s information and her quest, David would still be searching. Maybe in the end it would have turned out the same. But the idea that she had somehow been responsible for sending him over the edge was untenable.

  "Do you think they heard us?" she asked, trying to focus on the task at hand.

  "No." David shook his head, the anger he’d exhibited earlier gone—almost as if it had never existed. But she knew it was still there, like a snake waiting to strike. "We’re in the clear for now," he continued, thankfully oblivious to the turn of her thoughts, "but we need to hurry."

  The doors opened and they stepped out of the elevator, stopping short of the pressure-sensitive floor. David reached into his bag and produced an aerosol can. He sprayed the area over the floor, waiting to see if color developed. The air remained translucent.

  "Looks like your code did the trick," David said, taking a tentative step forward.

  Jessie followed, relieved when there were no flashing lights, no alarms. "Don’t count your chickens yet," she said. "I buried my work behind dummy code, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be found. And Braun is upstairs right now. That wasn’t part of the plan." David waved a hand at the security camera, nodding when it failed to illicit a response. "But it’s something we can deal with if we have to. You keep watch. Shoot at anything that moves. I’ll start on the vault."

  He pulled out a stethoscope and pressed against the vault door, listening as he turned the dial of the combination lock. Occasionally, he stopped to write a number on the vault, eliminating choices by striking through the losing digits.

  She turned away, keeping her gun trained on the elevator doors. "Shouldn’t I be drilling the holes for the explosives?"

  "No. I think it’s better that you keep watch. See if you can rouse Faust. Maybe he can do something to call off the goons."

  "Faust," she whispered into the headset. "Faust, are you there?" She waited for a couple more seconds. Then called his name again. No answer.

  "I don’t think we’re receiving down here. Which means we’re operating blind."

  "We’ll be fine," he assured her, still concentrating on the vault. Jessie blew out a breath, wondering why in hell she’d agreed to steal the damn box in the first place. Because you love your father, came the answer, unbidden but definitely true.

  Love was a strange animal, defying logic and convention to survive in places it shouldn’t. Her gaze fell on David, watching as he listened to the inner workings of the vault’s lock. The back of his neck and the line of his shoulders were as familiar as if they were parts of her own body. Which made their impending separation that much harder to accept.

  Sometimes doing the right thing hurt like hell. But she knew it had to be done.

  "I’ve got it." David’s words broke through her reverie.

  "So quickly?" she asked. "That’s amazing."

  "Let’s hold off the congratulations until after we’ve got the Protector and make our escape. This is your show. You should go first." He stepped back, waving her ahead of him, as she passed.

  Thanks to the thickness of the walls the interior of the vault was much smaller than it appeared from the outside. Directly in front of her were some shelves with stacks of papers and several piles of bound currency. She pushed them aside, but there was nothing behind them. "There’s nothing here," she said, fighting her frustration. "After all this, there’s nothing here."

  "Easy, Jessie, looks can be deceiving," David said, walking over to the shelves, running his hands along the tops and sides.

  "You’re right. I’m not thinking clearly. This is probably just a decoy." She knelt to feel along the base of the shelves, and was rewarded with an audible click. They both scrambled to move out of the way as the entire shelving unit swung open to reveal a space about half a meter square. Inside, sitting on a square of blue velvet, sat the Protector of Armageddon.

  Chapter Nine

  After all the effort they’d expended to get here, she was surprised at how ordinary the Protector looked. It was certainly beautiful. There could be no denying the fact. The carving was every bit as intricate as David had described, the jeweled corners winking at her in the diffused lighting of the vault.

  But it was still just a box. No herald of accompanying angels or dark paladin appearing to protect it. It was merely an ancient artifact that paid empty tribute to man’s never-ending need to impress the gods.

  Looking at it sitting on its blue velvet shelf, she almost felt disappointed. As if she’d wanted some greater sign. Something that proved that some part of the legend was true. It was a ridiculous notion. She should be grateful it had gone down so easily.

  She started to reach for the box, but David stopped her, his hand on her wrist. "Maybe I should do it."

  "Why?" she asked. "You don’t believe that it has any power."

  "All the better that it be me over you," he
said, his expression inscrutable.

  "Oh, come on. Does this look like it has the power to end the world?" She hadn’t meant to sound mocking, but after all the talk she’d expected something more awe-inspiring.

  Before he had that chance to argue with her, she reached past him and picked up the box, the metal surprisingly warm to the touch. The carvings up close were more impressive than they’d appeared from inside the vault, but still it was somewhat underwhelming. "It’s just a box." She held it out to him. "See?"

  "Well, I still don’t like the idea of you having any kind of connection with that thing" David frowned at the Protector again. "Maybe it isn’t metaphysical, but it certainly invites trouble. Look at what happened to Jason."

  "Stop worrying. Once we’re out of here, I’ll give it to my client and that’ll be the end of that." Even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t the truth. Once she gave the box to her father, everything would change. A few days ago that had seemed like a good idea. But now, suddenly, she wasn’t as certain.

  "Look, we can debate the merit, or lack thereof, of the box later," David said. "Right now we need to get out of here." He moved around the side of the vault, kneeling beside the steel panel that blocked the exit. With the precision of an expert, he assembled the drill and in short order sparks were dancing off the rocks that abutted the sheet of steel. "Shouldn’t take more than a minute. I want you to get behind the vault door."

  "I thought it was going to be a contained explosion."

  "It is," David confirmed. "But you never know."

  "What about you?" Jessie asked, trying not to let her imagination take her places she didn’t want to go. "Where will you be?"