by Michael Todd
Stephanie pursed her lips, thinking about it. “I am pretty sure that for the stuff we need on here, none of the companies has changed. If there is something on a list that we haven’t ordered, I wrote in the distributor information.”
Angie skimmed down the page. “Excellent. You are on top of it.”
Stephanie laughed. “We need these things to keep going, so I have to be on top of it. For example, we need additional materials to make more of the special metal, plus all normal stuff that we need to run the base. Right now, with how we have been rolling, these will possibly become a regular order—something I call you and you check off an order sheet for.”
“Hopefully, eventually you can just make whatever calls you need yourself, so you don’t have to go through me. I don’t mind since it gives me something to do, but it’s kind of an unneeded step. I don’t think Katie has taken the time to think that through,” Angie replied.
Stephanie shrugged. “Whatever is best. I don’t really put much thought into it these days, with so much going on. But yeah, I made a list, then pared it down to the most important things.”
Angie glanced at the list again, stopping about five lines down. She glanced up at Stephanie. “Kimchi?”
Stephanie giggled. “Yeah. Sean has been cooking, and now half the base wants Korean twice a week.”
Angie smirked. “Sounds like he has a job in his future. Okay, okay. It all sounds good. The only thing I was specifically told I could not get was a sex swing for Pandora.”
The room was silent for a moment, then Stephanie laughed. “That girl is hopeless. If she really wants one, there is no doubt in my mind that she will rig one. We’ll be walking down the hall hearing the drill going, and there will be chains and straps and all kinds of shit all over her room.”
Angie put the list in her book, still shaking with laughter, then they each took a deep breath and settled into their chairs. Angie tapped her pen on her notebook for a moment. “So, there is still the matter of the security breach.”
Stephanie pressed her lips together, hating to even think about it. She felt bad for Sean from the bottom of her heart, but it was what it was. “We’ve got a division of duty there. Calvin’s taken over the defense of the base. I think he is talking to Katie about that right now. He has my proxy.”
Katie and Pandora walked into the dining hall, finding Calvin sitting at the big table with a box of donuts and coffee. Pandora stretched her arms wide and yawned. “Lookie here! My lover from another life has set me up with a box of donuts.” She turned directly to Calvin, speaking loudly. “No, Calvin, you cannot bribe my vag with a box of donuts.”
Calvin shook his head and looked up at Katie. “Hey, there.”
Katie laughed. “Hey. So, we’re here to get to the nitty-gritty and talk about Sean’s breach of security.”
Calvin clasped his hands, trying to ignore Pandora shoving an entire donut in her mouth. “Yep. It’s a tricky situation. Obviously, none of us truly believe he helped her steal those documents and software. He would have been arrested by now if that were the case. At the same time, he did fuck up. It’s been hard on all of us. He is part of Brock’s team, and they all highly respect him. He is a true warrior, and has proven himself time and again by putting his life on the line.”
Katie glanced down at her hands and coughed, finding the story all too normal. “But he put his trust in the wrong person and let them take valuable information. And regardless if he knew it or not, he was still responsible for it. Any word on Carmen?”
Calvin took a deep breath through his nose and shook his head. “No. She’s still missing, and Timothy hasn’t been able to find anything about the robbery on the dark web, so we are assuming that whoever her contact or buyer was, they did everything through face-to-face contact. That’s rare, but if it is deep, then we know they know what they’re doing. There isn’t a system to detect someone having a conversation without completely taking away all human rights and listening to every conversation, which is impossible at this point anyway.”
Katie shook her hand. “That’s not the only choice, though. We can figure out things much more complicated. To be honest, there is a good chance she is either Damned or dead by now. Anyone who would be looking for the information Timothy had would have to be in a pretty high position, either legally or illegally. That is just semantics. The point is, they were strong enough to burrow into our base and collect secret information that only a handful of people had the ability to find. But there she was, taking it right in front of Sean without him knowing, and on the first try.”
Pandora swallowed her donut and wiped her lips. “Honestly, I think we could discuss this until the cows come home, but we need to get to the source. We need to bring Sean in here and use our powers on him to find out what the hell happened.”
Katie tapped her fingers on the desk. “You’re right. Let’s bring him in.”
Calvin pulled his cell out and called down to the administrative offices. “Yeah, can you send Sean up to the main dining hall? Thanks.”
Calvin changed chairs, coming over and sitting next to Katie. Pandora cracked her neck and her knuckles, taking the conversation very seriously. She liked interrogating; it let her be a bitch without having to apologize, at least most of the time. Sean wheeled into the room, pausing briefly as his eyes fell on Katie and Pandora.
Katie smiled sweetly and Pandora leaned back, resting her ass on the edge of the table with her arms crossed. Katie stood up and walked over, shaking his hand. “Hey, good to see you.”
Sean nodded. “You too. I heard you guys were here.”
Katie put out her arm. “Why don’t you come to the table? Then we can talk.”
Sean wheeled over, glancing uncomfortably at Pandora, who was glaring at him. Katie followed, beginning to pace next to him. She kept her voice calm and kind, not only to play the good cop but because she genuinely cared about him. “I’ve read the report on what happened. I just want to go through some things, maybe jog your memory. So, you and Carmen were friends?”
“Yeah,” Sean replied. “We hadn’t been friends that long, though. She had just gotten here. She seemed funny, sweet, and kind. I didn’t give it two thoughts.”
Pandora narrowed her eyes. “But she was grounds, and you were tech. How did you cross paths enough to actually become friends?”
Sean opened his mouth and then shut it, not having really thought about that. “I guess I met her at something with a bunch of people. But now that I think about it, she did seem overly interested in getting to know me. I just assumed she had a crush.”
Pandora shook her head, turning into the bad cop. “Really? After all of the training that you’ve had, you didn’t get an instant red flag? Look, here’s the deal. We don’t have the rest of eternity to sit here and talk to you about it.” She slammed her hand on the desk, making him jump. “Tell us everything, or we’ll start pulling fingernails! And trust me, I have some experience with that.”
Katie shook her head, putting her hand up. She sat back down across from him. “This is going to go nowhere if we start yelling at each other. Sean, we have known each other for a long time now. We have fought beside each other and done all kinds of things. We want to trust you. If we didn’t, you wouldn’t be sitting here in front of us.”
Pandora shifted, stepping into Katie’s body. Just want to verify this. Are you sure we can actually trust Sean? We’ve seen some good players in this game before.
Katie had thought she was sure until Pandora questioned her. I think so.
Pandora clicked her tongue. I’m going to come out of you full angel. We have some unique abilities that I think will help us here. I want you to follow along with me.
You got it. Just don’t physically hurt him.
Pandora jumped back out of Katie, and they both immediately spread their angelic wings.
Calvin shifted in his chair, feeling his demon Nate Dogg shift inside him. The demon freaked. What the holy hell? I knew I would be
getting into some shit with this, but you never mentioned I might be facing two angels. Calvin, this is not cool, man. Not fucking cool.
Ever since Calvin had caught and thoroughly chewed Nate out for messing with his emotions and reaction times back when Sofia’s house was attacked and afterward at the base, the demon had been quiet. Now, though, he was too scared to be careful about how he was affecting Calvin.
Calvin’s heart started racing, and he stood up from his chair. “I’m just going to step outside. If you guys need anything, let me know.”
Katie and Pandora continued to question Sean. One of the most important aspects of their angel abilities was that they could detect how other people felt. They focused on his responses, finally seeing, thanks to Pandora’s hard-on for crime shows, that there had been no ill will or deceit in Sean’s actions.
Katie folded her wings back up and walked over, hugging him tightly. “I’m sorry you had to go through this. I can tell you have no malice in your heart, and I forgive you for what happened.”
Powell hopped out of the limo and brushed the crumbs from dinner out of the folds of his suit. This time he was entering the complex looking like he normally did: dressed to a tee, calm, and slightly intimidating. He entered through the same door and walked back past the sea of cadaverous ruins—once-great machines now reduced to rubble.
Ahead, standing under the light was Xian, but he was no longer bald. He was wearing a wig. Powell pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh. He actually looked pretty good in it, and had Powell not known Xian, he would have assumed that was his real hair.
Xian waved at Powell without looking up. Powell meandered over and stood next to Xian. He took a deep breath, pushing the giggles down. “Is there something different about you? I feel like there is.”
Xian shook his head. “Nope. Just been working through this stuff.”
Powell persisted. “You sure?”
He continued to shift the conversation away from the tuft of hair on the top of his head. “The technicians are out on break, but they are all chomping at the bit, and to be frank, I am too. We found something new.”
Powell dropped his act and walked over to look at the screen Xian had pulled up. “You found one?”
Xian pointed to the screen. “I think so. It has the same signature as all the other Leviathans, only this one we found in Iraq. There is something common between the Leviathans that is not seen in humans— various uncommon traits.”
Powell looked at him with a furrowed brow. “Yeah, that was way too complicated.”
Xian didn’t repeat himself, running his hands gently over his wig and stepping back. “So, what is next? What do we do from here?”
Powell composed himself, knowing he was now in charge of the decision. “We have to decide if this warrants pulling the trigger.”
Xian shifted his gaze down to a file. He picked it up and read through it. “So, we have a team that is awaiting orders.”
Powell nodded. “Yeah, a platoon led by a Damned lieutenant who is extremely capable. He is the only other person who knows we are looking for this thing. They are pretty much floating until we make the call.”
Xian stood still for a moment and then jumped, punching Powell’s shoulder lightly in excitement. “We found a fucking Leviathan. Even the guy who created this shit couldn’t find any more.”
Powell rubbed his hands together excitedly, a smile moving over his lips. He was a strange guy, and got even stranger when excitement ran through him. He reached up and started pinching his nipples through his button-down shirt. “So, we kill it?”
Xian bit his bottom lip and slapped his hands together. “Yes. We can’t let another Kabbus free. We are going to be hailed as heroes here.”
Powell’s eyes went big. “If it’s another Juntto, the World Council could use big guns in the demon fight. You would be able to see it from space.”
Xian’s mouth formed an o. “And if it’s something like Kabbus, we could be unleashing a new hell on Earth. That would be the opposite of good.”
Powell squeezed his nipples hard and shook his head. “It’s a risk either way, but even more so if we wait for this motherfucker to wake up on his own. That is when we would have to try to be on top of it. That’s a problem, though. It’s always been the problem. If we can destroy these sonsofbitches before they even open a crusty monster eye, then we wouldn’t have to watch all these people die. No, that’s not going to happen. Let’s kill it. Call the number in the file.”
Powell walked closer to the screen, really pinching down hard on his nipples. “Send a team in.”
6
It was night, and the hills and valleys south of Al Fatsi, Iraq were barely lit, besides the random farmhouse with lanterns in the yard. The sound of the helicopters overhead was barely audible as they swiftly moved into place, dropping closer to the ground and allowing the trained team of twelve to rappel out. As soon as the soldiers hit the ground, they scattered, staying low and aiming their weapons around them. They had done jobs like that a million times, but their target was a bit different on this go-around.
The last to rappel down was their commander, Lieutenant Vinders. When he hit the ground, he took a knee, opening his map and positioning his mic in front of his lips. The helicopters took off, leaving nothing but a small breeze in their wake.
The Lieutenant spoke in a quiet whisper into the comm, directing his soldiers where they needed to go. The team worked together seamlessly, moving straight into their positions. The area wasn’t unnecessarily dangerous for them, but Americans in Iraq always created some sort of stir. They weren’t there for political or idealistic reasons, though; they were there to find a Leviathan, the one thing that threatened everyone in the world despite their religious preference or political ideas.
As the lieutenant turned, bringing up the rear, his eyes glowed red. He was Damned and had been for a long time, finding solace in the system and an ability to excel when it came to rank and missions. The team walked carefully through the hills using night vision goggles, keeping watch for anyone who might open fire out of fear of their presence in the open hills of Al Fatsi.
It didn’t take them long to arrive at the destination, a tomb with a boulder in front of it. One of the soldiers joked over the comm, “Is this when we find out that Jesus wasn’t a god, but actually an alien sent here to pit us against each other? I mean, I’m cool with that, but I need some time to prepare my mother.”
The lieutenant called for the explosives. “Don’t worry, Jones, I’ll let your mother know when I see her later tonight.”
The whole team chuckled but kept their focus. They attached the explosives and fell back, taking cover wherever they could, then blew the boulder, crushing most of it into dust. Half the team moved fast, rushing into the cave-like tomb. As they entered, they shined their flashlights around, finding carvings on the wall and a stone altar.
Jones pulled off his night vision goggles and shone his light on the altar. “What the ever-loving fuck is that?”
Another guy got closer. “Uh, looks like some sort of mummy. A short one.”
Jones nodded uneasily and clicked his comm. “LT, it’s a mummy. Over.”
Vinders shifted his eyes to the side and cleared his throat. “Uh, come again? Over.”
Jones pursed his lips and blinked. “Mummy. M-U-M-M-Y. Not shitting you; this isn’t a joke. Shriveled little guy. Do we light it up?”
Vinders was confused, but he wasn’t taking any chances. “Affirmative.”
Jones pointed at the mummy, and everyone gathered around, arms ready. “On my mark…”
Suddenly, a small pebble dropped from the edge of the pedestal and Jones stepped closer, looking up at the ceiling. When he looked back down, the mummy snapped into a sitting position, and everybody freaked out.
Vinders looked down at his watch, trying to get the other half of the team on comm. He didn’t hear any gunfire, and he had given the order. “Jones. Jones, come in, please. Over.”
Nothing.
He bit on the inside of his cheek as his team stayed steady, ready for anything to attack from any direction. They scanned the area behind them as a line of team members pointed their weapons toward the opening of the tomb. One of the guys, Tracker, looked up at the lieutenant. “So, should we go in there after them?”
The guy next to him, Alvarez, shook his head. “No fucking way. You heard what he said; there was a mummy in there. So, if the thing didn’t spring back to life and feast on their bones, then all of them will be cursed for eternity. I know my mummies.”
Tracker raised an eyebrow and looked at the lieutenant. “Are they shitting me? A mummy?”
Vinders shrugged. “Apparently. He knows he can’t fuck with me like that on a mission.”
Tracker laughed. “No shit. Like in the movies?”
Vinders gave him a deadpan look. “No, not like the movies. There is very little reality in movies, especially ones like that. And Brendan Fraser is not going to be running from the tomb.”
Tracker glanced at the face of the tomb, gritting his teeth. He looked back at Vinders. “But it’s supernatural shit? You know, beings as it’s the spot where the Leviathan is, and all.”
Another guy scratched his head. “Huh. Well, fuck. Yeah, I guess it is supernatural.”
Tracker nodded dramatically, putting his hand out to the guy and looking at the lieutenant. “See? It is like the movies.”
Vinders sighed and shook his head. “This is why I don’t take you guys anywhere. You are all conspiracy theorists. Who knows, they might have gotten the thing wrong. It might have moved. This could be some archaeological site we just happened upon.”
Tracker grinned. “It’s a supernatural Leviathan mummy, and it’s going to go all kickass on us any second now.”
Vinders ignored him, starting to get worried about the guys inside. He clicked his mic on again. “Strike team, I want you to bring whatever you have out here. We’re just going to burn the damn thing.”
