War of the Damned Boxed Set

by Michael Todd

  Sofia’s father smiled for the first time that night and squeezed her hand. “I would have to say that my wife put it beautifully. Sofia, I am sad that this happened to you, and though I could be disappointed, there is no reason to be. You found yourself in a situation, blinded by the beauty of an idea of love, and did your best to survive when it fell apart. As far as I am concerned, I owe Calvin here a huge debt for making sure you were safe. I think we can agree, your mother and I, that we wish both of you the best.”

  Sofia smiled, and Calvin nodded at Stephanie and Korbin. They nodded back and took the two guys gently by the arm, escorting them down the stairs and out of the building.

  Stephanie handed them their guns. “We are sorry for the confusion, but maybe next time you should find out the details.” Korbin raised an eyebrow and nodded, watching them walk away.

  Chapter Eleven

  Katie had demonstrated several of the new bullets and was holding up a new design for the grenade smoke bombs. Detectives Travers and Schultz had left over an hour before, having been called away in the middle but not involving Katie. She was explaining the timer located on the side. They were a new design, meant to prevent the infected fighters from getting caught in the crossfire.

  “If you pull the pin and let it go, it will give you fifteen seconds to get away. However, you can program it on the spot, or pre-program these for a longer time period. This will help you get out of tight situations without being taken down by the smoke. I believe that these would also work well when you are setting a trap. If you know where they will be gathering and what time, you can set these in nondescript places and put the small carrying bag around them. That will shield those on the outside from the light of the timer. Then set them for a time when you won’t be in the building but demons will be. Drop them where they stand, and then you can go in with gas masks and clear the field.”

  Katie’s phone rang and Angie picked it up, walking away for a moment. She nodded and talked quickly, then walked back to Katie. She whispered into her ear, “It’s Detective Travers. He says it’s an emergency.”

  Katie nodded and looked at the crowd. “Okay, boys, feel free to try out the new ammunition. Just not the grenades. We don’t need that kind of mess today.”

  Katie took the phone from Angie and walked to the back of the room. “Travers, what’s going on?”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt your fun, but we were waiting for some intel before we brought this up, and we finally got it, I think. Something big is coming, but we couldn’t pinpoint when or where. We’ve been tracking this for days now, noticing the shift in how the demons have been attacking. Our ability to track these things on our level is difficult, but we are running out of time. We think something could happen as soon as the next few hours. Whatever it is, it is big. Bigger than anything we have seen before.”

  “I had a feeling there was something in the works.” Katie sighed. “Have you contacted the government?”

  “Sure, but they don’t find anything credible until they see it with their own eyes. They laughed us off for talking about a gut feeling.”

  Katie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, they don’t use their intuition very often.”

  “That they don’t, but this is too big to wait. By the time they see it, confirm it, and start sending troops, it might be too late. We don’t want to just sit back and let that happen, but we need help with this one.”

  “All right. Actually, I know the perfect person to help. I’m going to put you guys on hold for a minute. Don’t hang up.”

  Katie put them on hold and called Timothy’s line in IT. “Hey there, boss lady. Are you calling with some good news?”

  “Well, good if you want something to do, bad if you don’t.”

  “Uh oh.”

  “There is some rumbling going on, Timothy. The detectives out here have tracked it. Normally when someone says they know but don’t have evidence I would shrug it off, but to be honest, neither of these guys is the kind to jump to conclusions. The problem is, they are city cops. They can't really search for intel, so we are teaming up with them. I am going to switch over and introduce you, and we will work together to find the surge that will tell us where the portal is going to open. I know it’s out there, and may even be open already, but we need to be able to locate it either way.”

  “Got it.”

  Katie added Timothy into the call with Travers, Schultz now on speakerphone with them. “All right, Detectives Travers and Schultz, this is my intel and technology whiz Timothy. He is going to use our systems, which at times are more useful than the military’s, to help track this incursion. I need you to give him coordinates of the hotspots you’ve been tracking. He will be able to use those to narrow down the energies that shouldn’t be around New York and pinpoint any high levels of heat that would be coming from a large portal.”

  “All right, we can do that,” Schultz replied. “I have the map on my desk, Timothy you just tell me when you are ready.”

  Timothy typed quickly on his computer, Travers and Katie standing by. Schultz read out the coordinates, starting with the most crowded areas and moving down the list. Timothy typed quickly, watching the infrared on the other screen and looking for anything out of the ordinary. The areas had action, but it was small; individual demons, or small groups. Nothing that would put them on alert for a large-scale incursion.

  “Everything so far seems legit.”

  “Okay, let’s move over to Brooklyn. There are a lot of residential areas over there stacked on top of each other. A very populated area, but not a lot of tourism. You might find more individual activity than in others. This area has been kind of a hotspot for random infected to congregate.”

  “It tends to happen that way. Places out of the main line of sight,” Travers added, “would make the perfect place to sneak in a portal.”

  He gave the coordinates of a residential area on the edge of Brooklyn and waited to give the next. Timothy input them and looked at the screen, scanning the area and stopping. He zoomed in on one specific area, shocked to see the exact information and location they were looking for.

  “Wait, this is way too much heat for just a couple of rogues. It's on the edge of the coordinates you gave me; an apartment complex, it looks like. I can’t tell exactly from the screen. It’s just infrared.”

  “I know that area very well.” Schultz sighed. “We have a lot of poorer residents over there. It’s a high-crime area, but surprisingly, up until this moment no demons have been taken from there.”

  Katie rolled her eyes. “Pain-in-the-ass demons just have to go and fuck up my day.”

  “Hold on, let me pull up the real-time satellite feed. I can give you the direct information on the location.”

  They could hear Timothy typing away, pausing, and then typing some more. Katie grabbed her jacket and threw it on, knowing that she would be heading out soon.

  After a couple of minutes, Timothy came back on the phone. “Okay, I got it. It’s a very large gate over an old cemetery from centuries ago. There was a twenty-two-story building constructed over it, and from the looks of the real-time feed and the infrared, I would suspect the gate is opening in the basement.”

  Travers sighed. “This is going to be a bitch to clean out and clean up.”

  “Hold that perimeter for me, Schultz,” Katie replied. “Go ahead and send people out, as many as you can. Cordon off the space, but don’t get too close. If the gate’s as big as Timothy is describing, I just want you to keep it contained until I get there.”

  “What are you going to do?” Schultz asked.

  “My job,” she replied. “I’ve got a team. I am pretty sure they will be more than happy to make a house call today.”

  “Sounds good, Katie,” Travers replied. “I am going to hold back a medium-sized unit, just in case we are looking at a situation like France. We don’t want to fall for it twice and have another portal open that we aren’t prepared for.”

  “I agree, but I would go a
head and put a call in with your captain. You may want to have the military on standby. These things can quickly get out of hand, and there are a lot of innocents in a very small space around there. The fewer casualties, the better, especially with the way people tend to panic. We don’t want to set off a panic and have everyone taking to the streets. That will only compound the problem.”

  “Got it,” Travers replied. “Thank you, Timothy.”

  “No problem, all in a day’s work.”

  The four of them hung up and Katie stood there for a second looking at her phone. She heard a shuffle of feet behind her and slowly turned around, finding the guys standing at attention with their go-bags over their shoulders. They had been listening to the conversation, and they were ready to go. She held back a smirk, knowing she could count on them.

  “All right, boys, it looks like we have a big one. The gates are opening, and this time it’s no joke. This is not a Times Square incursion. This is like France, only we have no idea what might come after it. I know you are on vacation, and I didn’t want to do this but...”

  Brock smiled. “Why apologize? You didn’t exactly send them an invite. Fuckers insist on gatecrashing our liberty, we’re gonna kick their asses back to hell. That is what we’re here to do.”

  Oh my God, I didn’t think they made them like this anymore, Pandora purred.

  Katie grinned. “Good, then suit up, boys. We’re going in.”

  The guys high-fived and cheered, then ran to the table of weapons and picked out what they needed. Several of the cops who were there went out to their cars, bringing in flak vests for the team to wear. They were all nice shirts, not really optimal for fighting demons. The guys geared up, getting more and more motivated by the prepping and mental stimulation of the buzz in the room. Several of the cops were going to head out with them. Katie stood, making sure she was fully locked and loaded.

  Oh, some action at last. I was starting to get fucking bored. Although it’s not exactly the kind of action you promised, an ass-kicking is always a pleasurable thing to give.

  Katie smiled, pushing the magazine into her pistol. Right? It’s been a couple of days with no asses to kick. I was thinking about taking a walk in the bad part of town later just to get my fix.

  I was thinking of making you so damn horny you had no choice but to jump Brock, but hell, this is just as good.

  You think this is Moloch?

  If it’s not him, it has to be one of the other high-level demons. That kind of gate doesn’t just open for some idiot cult members. I’m not really surprised. It may have been busy lately, but it was all petty little shit. The boys downstairs have been quietly plotting their next attack or attacks.

  I just hope we are ready for what we are walking into. Brock doesn’t even have his whole team. One of the guys went to visit family, and one was just laid to rest.

  They will be fine. Remember, you don’t have your old team either, but you are still a badass.

  Katie walked over to Angie. “If you can get whatever is left back to the house, leave the food for them, minus two boxes of donuts.”

  “Already got that covered.”

  “Good, and put in a call to Calvin. Just let him know to be on standby. I’ll only call on him if it gets out of hand. I want him to know what might be going down, though.”

  “Check. Be careful out there, and don’t let those boys walk in with their egos.”

  “You got it.” Katie smiled. “It’s all about the mission.”

  The sky above the city was starting to darken, and the lights outside the windows of the cop cars were twinkling. There was a stillness in the air that sent shivers up everyone’s spines. Something was different about this fight, something that none of them could quite put their fingers on, but it was there. The cops’ sirens echoed off the buildings, and Katie rolled her window down, feeling the stale air waft over them. The closer they got to the building, the hotter and stuffier the air felt.

  Katie and the team rode in the police vehicles. They’d jumped in with the cops to get there as fast as they could. They were hauling ass down the streets, weaving in and out of traffic and even coming up onto the sidewalk when it was safe in their rush to get through. Cops and SWAT from all over the city were converging on that one complex in Brooklyn. The people in the buildings around shut their doors and hid, feeling the air of wrongness that pervaded the area.

  The cars pulled up halfway up the block where they had set the perimeter. They stepped slowly out of the car and could feel the darkness pulsating from the area. Katie put her hand to her chest and rubbed, trying to soothe that burn she’d begun to feel before they even left the shooting range.

  They could hear screams echoing from the building, from the bottom up to the top. All around the building the cops were setting up roadblocks, lines of officers ducking down below them, resting their weapons on the cement blocks. Every few minutes a burst of gunfire could be heard when a demon came out of one of the exits of the building attempting to make a run for it.

  The cops were all equipped with the special bullets, and had finally learned to aim for the head. There was already a pile of dust building up on the sidewalk. The captain had arrived shortly before Katie and the guys and he walked over and stuck out his hand, shaking Katie’s.

  “It looks like the demons are coming from inside the basement. That is also the closest point to the old cemetery this building was built over. They are exiting the gate and making their way up one floor at a time. The people inside are attempting to barricade themselves in, but we are unable to tell at this point how many casualties we are facing. The city sent over the specs for the building, but it is a very simple layout. One set of stairs, no elevator, and a straight hall from front to back, lined on each side with apartments.”

  “Are they all occupied?”

  “There are six vacant units on the first three floors. The rest are occupied, but we have no idea how many were home when this began.”

  “Thanks, Captain.” Katie looked up at the top of the building. “I’m going to get up there. Get above the bastards and drive them down. Your guys are doing a great job keeping up with the ones coming out, but you need more men on those posts. If there is a surge, you could be hit by hundreds of demons.”

  The captain swallowed hard and nodded. “Got it.”

  Katie needed a way in from the top, and she didn’t have time to wait for a chopper. She glanced at the building next door and smiled. “I got this!”

  She turned to the guys, who were standing by waiting for instruction. “I want you guys to get ready to go in. You will know when it is time to rush the place. Be safe.”

  With that, she took off down the street and up onto the sidewalk, sprinting into the building next door. The guys all looked at each other and pulled out their weapons making sure they were ready to go. The SWAT team loaned them some helmets and jackets to wear over the bulletproof vests, and they stood listening to the silence, wondering what their cue would be. Suddenly, one of the fifth story windows shattered, and glass exploded outward and fell to the street.

  Katie dived out the window, and her wings unfurled before she dropped too far. A few beats and she was level with the fifth-floor window she’d chosen as her ingress. The steady beat of her wings as she held herself steady with Tom and Harry raised caused a downdraft. She fired, and one final flap propelled her through the now open window.

  Brock raised his eyebrows. “I guess that’s our cue!”

  Before they could take a step toward the building, they were knocked back by a massive concussive wave. Brock and the guys dived for cover as glass exploded from the buildings and cars all around them. They regained their footing and started toward the building, wishing they had seen whatever just happened with their own eyes.

  The cops standing by watched with wide eyes as the guys ran toward the building and disappeared inside.

  Gunshots echoed as total chaos erupted inside the building and the night was filled with the song
of demon screams.

  Chapter Twelve

  Katie rushed across the sidewalk and into the building next door. She hit the stairs and climbed until she hit the fifth floor. She ran down the hall and pushed into one of the apartments, finding it lived in, but unoccupied. She raced over to the window and looked out, trying to make out her plan.

  Okay, here’s the deal. It looks like that apartment straight across is vacant. I need to get from here into there.

  You can’t be thinking what I really hope you aren’t thinking.

  I don’t even know what that means. I am going to shoot out this window, make a run, leap across, and use my wings if it’s necessary to get across the gap. While that is happening, we will shoot out the adjacent window and dive through, landing in a nice roll on the floor.

  That all sounds absolutely poetic, but in reality, you are going to try this wing thing again. I don’t like it.

  You don’t like it because it’s an angel thing and you can’t control it.

  I don’t like it because humans and demons aren’t meant to fly. We climb, we run, and we fall, but we do not act like pigeons on a New York apartment windowsill.

  Okay, but what do you have to really give me? You refuse to tell me about the armor and sword thing Gabriel wanted you to share with me, so I would like to know what you have to add. If you have a better idea, by all means, give it to me. I am all ears.

  First of all, Gabriel doesn’t know you. You are not ready for the sword and armor “thing.” Secondly, we have been marching right into the thick of it this whole time and now that you get angelic tingles in your thighs and some feathers on your back you want to change what has always worked. Besides, I didn’t even know about the whole armor thing until he said something. I had to figure out what it was, and unlike some creatures, I don’t give you details in bits and pieces and hope that you can piece enough together not to die.