by Michael Todd
“Hello?”
“Katie?”
“Yes.”
“This is Colonel Jehovivich. I apologize for bothering you, but I need permission to land the bird at your base and no one picked up at the security number. I need an immediate audience with you and your men. Some very disturbing information has been brought to our attention.”
“Of course. I’ll send Joshua and a couple of guards out to meet you. When will you be here?”
“We are on the approach right now.”
“Good, I’ll see you in a few.”
She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. It was odd for the colonel to come all the way out there like that. Katie figured it had to do with the attempts on her life. She got up from the chair and called Calvin and Damian to her office over the intercom.
This sounds interesting, Pandora mused in a serious tone.
I know. Maybe this day won’t end up being so chill after all.
“Hey.” Calvin rushed in with a concerned look. “What’s going on?”
“Is Damian with you?”
“Right here.” Damian walked in behind Calvin and both of them took a seat.
“The colonel just called. She is currently landing at the base. She says she has some serious information for me. Damian, can you get on the comm and let Joshua know that he should take two guards and meet the colonel at the landing pad and then send her here?”
“Of course.” Damian got up and picked up the receiver at the comm, waiting for Joshua to pick up.
Calvin rubbed his chin, the look on his face letting Katie know he had the same fears about the subject matter that she did. Damian put down the phone and turned to Katie, nodding.
“All taken care of. They are heading out now to wait for the chopper.” The sound of a helicopter caught their attention. “And it sounds like they are here.”
Topside, Joshua, two guards, and one of the girls headed out to the landing pad. They stood back while the bird landed and the two soldiers hurried over and opened the helicopter door. The colonel nodded at them as she rushed over to Joshua.
“Right this way,” he yelled over the bird. “I’ll take you down to her. I was told that due to certain circumstances none of the soldiers except Staff Sergeant Barrow are allowed below.”
“Probably smart.” She nodded.
They hurried to the elevators. The soldiers stood watch outside while Joshua took the colonel below. He could tell she was in a hurry, and whatever was going on, it was obviously of great importance. They made their way to Katie’s office, and Katie and the others stood up as she entered.
“Colonel, thank you for coming over.”
She nodded to each. “Thank you for having me on short notice. I don’t want to cut the pleasantries short, but time is unfortunately of the essence.”
Katie sat down as the colonel took a seat. “No, by all means.”
Calvin nodded to Joshua and closed the door behind him, standing in front with his arms crossed over his chest. Damian sat down to listen to the conversation. The colonel cleared her throat and put her hands in her lap.
“A military group has been sent here with an order to kill or capture.”
“What?” Katie shook her head. “Kill or capture who?”
“You,” the colonel replied. “Whoever is behind this is not taking orders from the general like they are is supposed to. They are circumventing the system, but the general found out and sent me over immediately.”
“Can’t he cancel the order?”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that. They are already on their way. I was just faster.”
“What the fuck?” Katie slammed her hands on the desk. “It was one thing to try to kidnap me while I was on vacation, but it’s a completely different thing to come to my base with intentions to harm my team and me. There has to be a line drawn somewhere.”
Calvin shrugged. “So, fire up the ground-to-air missiles that have been installed. They are there to protect us.”
The colonel looked at him. “You do know that those who were sent are innocent, right?”
Calvin retorted. “Casualties of following a leader blindly. I don’t want to see lives taken for no reason, but you have to agree that these are not ordinary circumstances. Our lives and our freedom and everyone we care about is being threatened by a group of people coming after us on orders that aren’t legal or valid. I think that warrants a hostile defense.”
“You could trigger a war between them and your people. You would be firing on United States military members who have orders, whether their source is valid or not. They are doing their jobs.”
“So we do what…let them come? Let them kill our people, who are also innocent?”
The colonel grimaced. “Of course not, but killing those men and women can’t be the only answer.”
Katie sat there listening to them go back and forth.
Both of them were right, but Katie wouldn’t allow her base to get into a shoot-out with the military. She would be putting everyone’s lives at risk, as well as the company whose bullets supplied those same troops with the ammunition to take down the demons.
“I have an idea,” Katie interrupted as Calvin began to get heated. “I can run or can go with them; those are the only two viable options I can see. If I run, it will never end until I take out those at the top.”
“Or they kill you,” Calvin interjected.
“That isn’t going to happen. If I go with them, I have an opportunity to see what is going on and find out who is behind this whole thing.”
“That is crazy,” Calvin replied, throwing his hands up.
“I have to say I agree with Calvin. It’s very risky,” the colonel added. “We don’t know how high this goes.”
Damian just sat and listened. He had promised himself a long time before that he would trust Katie’s judgment, and though this did sound crazy, she had a point. In order to gather any more intel than they already had she would need to enter the devil’s lair.
What can we do here, Pandora?
I can’t take your body over and leave your outer attributes intact. That’s impossible. At the same time, I think I should be the one to walk in there.
I would need to be able to know what was going on. It’s still so spotty inside there, and half the time I can’t see anything.
I can work on that.
“This is what we will do,” Katie announced, standing up. “I will allow Pandora to take over since she is stronger than I am and can heal me three times faster if she is in control. The colonel will hand me over, vouching that it is me. From there we will play it by ear, but Pandora and I look enough alike that unless it’s someone I have served with they won’t know the difference.”
The colonel turned white. “Do you know what you are doing here, Katie? This is incredibly dangerous. There is a chance we won’t be able to get you back once you have gone with them. We can only assume they want you for research purposes. Is it safe to hand your body over to your demon like that?”
Katie nodded. “I not only trust Pandora with my life, but I also trust her with the lives of all those I love.”
“As do I,” Damian replied with a smile.
16
The mood was somber, but Katie was prepared. She knew Pandora wouldn’t purposefully let them down and she was already working on allowing Katie to have the same physical abilities and mental conversational abilities as she did when she was on the inside.
However, to protect herself and everyone on that base she had to do something bold, and if covert intel wasn’t working she was just going to have to step into the fire and face whoever wanted her dead or alive.
The colonel pulled her phone out of her bag and stood up. “If you would excuse me, I have to use the restroom.”
“Of course.” Katie smiled. “Down the hall, third door on the right.”
Jehovivich nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. Katie walked over and sat in the chair next to
Damian, patting him on the leg.
She could tell he was deep in thought and she wondered if he believed this was a mistake. Damian rarely kept quiet when he didn’t agree with something, though, and he knew both her and Pandora better than anyone. Still, she wanted to know what he thought and where his concentration had gone.
“Are you concerned about the plan?”
“No.” Damian shook his head. “I trust you and I trust Pandora. But since you are asking, and since we don’t know how long you will be gone for, I do have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
She cocked her head. “Of course, what is it?”
“My higher-ups in the church have approached me about a program they are starting. They are sending priests all over the world, going from congregation to congregation to help the different parishes. They want us to do a lot of things; help people become comfortable with their demons, do exorcisms, and generally play Constantine. There would be a whole slew of us going, not just me.”
“And how do you feel about it?” she asked.
He sighed, scratching the back of his head. “I think it’s an honor to be asked. I think I could do a hell of a lot of good out there. People are suffering, and this is what the Lord and my church are asking of me. I have never turned my church down, not for anything. I dedicated my life to them before I was infected and continue to do so now. I am just concerned for you. I don’t want you to think I am abandoning you.”
Katie stood up and pulled him up as well, then wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
Of course she didn’t want to see him go, but she respected his dedication—and right now the world needed a man like him.
He had pulled her out of her slump and helped her realize that her new life was different, but that didn’t make it bad. He had accepted the powers she had and the trust she showed for Pandora without question, which was something she knew no one, not even Korbin, would have done.
She didn’t know how she would get along without him, but selfish was the last thing in the world she wanted to be.
She held him tight. “You mean the world to me; you have since the day we met. Your trust, and even your faith, have helped me throughout my new life. I don’t know what I would have done without you, and I want others to share that with me. I can’t be selfish, not when you have made me this proud to be your friend.”
She kissed him gently on the cheek and leaned back. “All you have to do is call me and I will come running.” She smiled. “I will allow nothing to get in our way.”
Damian pressed his forehead to hers and whispered, “I know, and I won’t be gone forever. I will come back.”
Katie leaned back and winked at him, holding back the emotion bubbling up in her chest. She felt the choice she was making was for the best.
She needed to protect her family no matter what. They were too important to her, and to the future of the world. The colonel came back in, and Katie shook herself, clapping her hands together.
“All right, guys, I’m gonna let Pandora take the reins, but I will see you on the flip side. Calvin, hold down the fort. I promise I will be back.”
“You got it.” Calvin nodded.
The colonel stood in the back of the office and watched in amazement as Katie took deep breaths and her body started morphing. Her hips got curvier, and her waist became smaller than it already was. She rolled her shoulders and her neck and the hair fell away from her face. The colonel could tell it wasn’t Katie, but only because she had seen her so many times. Her demon looked just like her, but a little bit more voluptuous. Maybe the plan would work after all. She hoped so.
It was the only one they had.
Sand blew wildly as the three gunships soared over the desert. The mood inside was nervous, even ominous.
Everyone had heard stories about this Katie that would scare the pants off just about anyone. They weren’t looking forward to facing her and several others like her on their own turf, but the orders had been given and they had to be carried out.
Command came over the comm. “We have intel that there are ground-to-air missiles installed at this base, over.”
One of the pilots responded, “Heard. We will attempt to target and take out that artillery before we get within their range capabilities, over.”
The soldiers sat almost silently in the back, holding their guns close to their chests. One asked, “You think they will try to kill us?”
Another soldier shrugged. “What would you do if the military was rolling in trying to take one of our own? You’d put up a fight.”
“True, but these mercs—I’ve seen some of them in action before. We are no match for them.”
“We’re gonna have to be. We have our orders, and we can’t be cowards. For whatever reason they want this merc, and they won’t take any excuses for not capturing her. There are enough of us that we should be able to take her out with sheer numbers.”
One of the others leaned forward. “My brother serves on one of the squads that were sent into Incursion Day. He said he watched her take down thirty-three demons in under four fucking minutes and she only fired two shots.”
The soldiers sat back and swallowed hard, no longer positive they had this on lockdown like Command had tried to tell them. They were facing a demon in a human who was extremely powerful and trained better than them—not one of the easiest tasks they had ever been assigned.
“Sir,” the co-pilot said. “There is a call coming in from the base. It’s her, sir.”
Riggs picked up the call. “This is Warrant Officer Riggs, who am I speaking with?”
“This is Katie, the one you are coming after.” It was Pandora talking, but in Katie’s tone. “We know you are coming for me. We are fully aware of the mission. Now, we are expecting that no firepower will be used. I will come with you peacefully ONLY to see what is going on and why you intend to invade our base and put my men’s lives at risk.”
“Understood. I will command the others to keep all firepower off.”
“I want you to understand something. If so much as one gun is pointed in the direction of this base or my people? I will reign holy fire down from heaven above. Do you hear me?”
He nodded, not that she could see it. “I do. We will be landing shortly.”
“Colonel Jehovivich will escort me to the chopper pad. Only two men are permitted out of their choppers. Choose wisely.”
Before he could respond she hung up the phone and he got on the comm with the other birds to let them know the instructions. He didn’t want to use weaponry if it wasn’t necessary, but he was curious why she was surrendering so easily.
In the back, one of the soldiers looked at the guy next to him.
“Can she do that? Holy fire? I thought she could only run things from hell.”
“I guess she can do just about anything at this point, but let me be the first to say I don’t want to piss her off enough to find out. Hell, fire isn’t exactly the kind of thing we were trained for.”
“I second that. I don’t want anything to do with it.”
Riggs looked in his mirror and narrowed his eyes. “You boys will do anything necessary, and that includes withstanding hellfire. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
Joshua stood outside the office, waiting for everyone to come out. When the door opened and Pandora exited he stepped back, clasping his hands together. Pandora smiled and ran her hand over his cheek. Calvin came out with Damian, and the colonel followed. Calvin nodded at Joshua and they walked down to the elevator.
“Everything ready?”
“Yeah. I brought some new weapons just in case,” Joshua replied.
“Good, I want to be ready for anything. These guys have a mission and they aren’t playing around.”
They made their way to the training area and KatieDora stood in the open space, looking around at all the equipment.
She had been inside Katie as she trained in that very place since they had moved there, yet
from the outside it looked different. And right now she wasn’t thinking about what move to juice her with to take down one of the guys.
It felt strange to her and she almost felt out of place, even though she had been there before. That was something she rarely felt, since she made it her business to be comfortable wherever she went, no matter whether people liked it or not.
Pandora commented. “This looks bigger from the outside.”
She realized that no one was paying attention and narrowed her eyes as she walked toward the armory.
She stood in the doorway as the four of them loaded up on weapons. The colonel put another pistol on her hip and grabbed two small knives, sliding them carefully into her belt. Calvin handed her a second clip and glanced at Pandora. He picked up an M-16 and put the strap over his shoulder.
His short sword was securely on his back.
Pandora was confused since she had agreed they wouldn’t fight.
“What are you guys doing?” she asked.
The colonel looked up. “They need to understand that we are not dealing from a position of weakness, but strength; major strength. You and Katie are doing this to help us, and I will be damned if we don’t show you the respect you deserve.”
“Well said.” Calvin nodded and winked at Pandora.
As she walked back into the training area she raised her hand and wiped a tear from her eye, then lowered her hand and looked at it in amazement. She hadn’t cried in a very long time; maybe even since she had been a human.
The people on that base showed her at every turn that she was part of the team and not someone to mess with.
Even the colonel, who Pandora could tell harbored some ill will toward any demon, had her back. It would be easy to explain it for Katie, but they were including her in the thanks—something no one had ever done before.
Helicopters whirled above them and Pandora looked at her teammates, who had come out of the armory. Calvin, completely covered in weapons, stood tall and nodded at Pandora.
“It’s time.”
