Dread

by J G Jerome

  I speak in Arabic to draw his attention, “Peace be unto you, Mr. Hassan. I believe you wanted to speak to me.”

  He stares at me for a moment before he responds. “And unto you peace, Mr. Jerome.”

  I tell him, “It seems strange to finally meet you with no intent to kill you after all the years I hunted you. I understand you were injured by the US government. Will you allow me to heal you?”

  He says dismissively, “The doctor took the bullet out. It will heal over time.”

  I shrug, “True, but you will not heal completely. You will likely have pain from the wound. I can heal you as though you were never injured. Will you let me? I barely have to touch you.”

  I can see he is struggling to accept this from me. I try a different tact.

  I walk over slowly, kneel down in front of him, and bow in the Japanese fashion. Then I put my left foot on the ground and extend my right hand. “Mr. Hassan, please forgive my poor manners. My name is Jacques Guillaume Jerome. Please call me Jack.”

  He warily leans forward to clasp my hand. His hand feels like it’s on fire. I assess him and find that he has an infection in the wound and a relatively high fever. That’s not all.

  He says, “Jack, my name is Abu bin Hassan. Please call me Abu.”

  “I am honored, Abu. I want you to know that your bullet wound is infected and has given you a relatively high fever. There are still fragments of the bullet in the wound. If you just hold my hand like this, I will have you healed and healthy in ten minutes. Will you allow me?”

  He nods. I tell him, “Remove the bandage.” Zandra darts in with scissors, cuts the gauze bandages, and pulls them all away from the wound. The wound is an angry red with striations running away from the stitched bullet hole.

  I start by ‘removing’ the stitches. Pus runs out of the wound. I ‘remove’ it and drop it on a magazine on the bedside table. Then I ‘remove’ the remaining three bullet fragments. Afterward I try to call all of the bacteria in the actual wound into the remaining pus from the wound before ‘removing’ that pus as well. I follow up by reminding the tissues how they were meant to be, and I start to pour healing energy into his body. I energize his lymph nodes to release more white blood cells to attack the bacteria. My eyes cast a pale green light despite the lamps in the room.

  “Zandra, please bring a big glass of water for Abu.”

  Zandra hurries out of the room. I monitor the progress of his healing and continue to pour a trickle of healing energy into Abu. The wound is closing rapidly as Zandra returns.

  I look into my patient’s eyes. I can see the green glow reflecting off his face. “Abu, drink all of this water quickly, and then Zandra is going to bring you another. You will also drink that one as fast as you can. The wound is better now, but I need to monitor the infection. I got most of the infection out of the actual wound, but there’s still bacteria in your bloodstream. I’m causing your body to release all of the white blood cells from your lymph nodes to attack the bacteria in your body. I’m tempted to energize your bone marrow to create more white blood cells, but I’m not sure if you need more or not. So, I think we keep pushing the water and monitor your temperature. Does that work for you?”

  Abu asks, “Did you know I’m a doctor?”

  “Yes, Abu. I read that in your file when I was hunting you,” I tell him.

  He continues, “I am equally amazed and appalled at what you are doing.”

  I’m confused. “Why’s that?”

  He shakes his head ruefully, “I’m a doctor, but I have killed and maimed well over 200 people. I sent my family to kill you. You are a hunter of men, an assassin, and soldier. Yet here you are healing me and treating me with kindness. It’s humbling, Jack.”

  I snort. “Well Abu, in November I was riding with two of my ladies when we were followed by a pair of suspicious bikers. I immediately blamed you and vowed to hunt you down and kill your whole line. I subsequently was humbled to learn that you had nothing to do with it.” Then I shrug, “On the positive side, I didn’t have to wait to kill the asshats trying to hurt my ladies.”

  Abu chuckles at that. “I can appreciate that.” Then he looks me in the eye. “I’ve wanted to kill you for so long that I’m at a loss about how to deal with you now. It was bad enough before I sent my cousin and my nephew on those two teams to kill you. We never did find the bodies.”

  “You never will,” I tell him. “I didn’t desecrate their bodies despite the temptation, and I made sure they were dead, clean, and blessed before they went into the wood chipper. I treated them with more respect than I wanted to given our history.

  “I suspected you did something like that to dispose of them. An investigation wouldn’t help you blend in as a ‘standard, boring, IT guy,’ would it?”

  I hold his eyes and slowly shake my head. “You gotta understand, that I was sick of the killing long before I left the service. I didn’t want to kill them, but they didn’t leave me much choice unless I was willing to lie down and die.” I scrunch my face into a frown. “You wanted to talk to me.”

  He nods as Zandra brings the refill of water. Abu takes a big drink before he speaks. “The Americans hurt so many of my people over the years since I left medical school that I begged for vengeance. I lost several uncles, my mother, my grandparents, numerous cousins, family all across Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. One day a recruiter approached me to go train at a special guerilla school in Libya. I went. I excelled. I returned and went on missions throughout the middle-east. When the Americans moved into Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, I killed many. I killed sailors on their ships. I killed contractors building infrastructure and providing security. I killed airmen as they played ball-games between missions. I recruited a cell of fighters and trained them on the streets of Ramadi, Haditha, Hit, Qaim and Kubaisa. Then I trained another. And another. We took out convoys and patrols. We even managed to take down a medical helicopter and an Apache. And then over the course of a month, all of my cells were wiped out in brutally efficient raids while they rested between missions. Only my cell was left. Then over the course of six weeks, my lieutenant and two more trusted comrades were killed. One was shot by a sniper. Two were killed in their beds with a knife. A source in the Iraqi defense forces told us it was you. Then you and I played our game of cat-and-mouse. I always thought I was the cat. Apparently you did, too.”

  I nod, “Yes. I thought I had you in Syria. I had you in my rifle’s sight, but didn’t get a window long enough for a clean shot. There were too many women and children around you.”

  “Ah! I know the day you’re talking about. Thank you for not risking my family. It was risky to go home, but I wanted to say goodbye to my family before I went to Europe,” he says.

  I snort, “I wondered if that wasn’t where you went. I got out of the army shortly after that, and you ceased being my problem until your cousin showed up. And then I had a couple more quiet years before your nephew showed up. By the way, your nephew was a cunning little fellow. That trick of getting Anglo and Hispanic kids to do his surveillance and tracking almost got by me. They had been tracking me for at least three weeks before I picked up that I had a team on me. Then I had to get serious fast.”

  Eileen adds in her halting Arabic, “That cost me my marriage to Jack. I was sure he was fooling around on me. Confidence in my sexual allure was a bit of a problem.”

  I tell her with a grin in English, “I hope we have addressed that sufficiently now.”

  She grins back and answers in the same language. “I don’t know, Fiancé. Maybe a little more reinforcement wouldn’t hurt.”

  Abu continues in Arabic, “My nephew was supposed to have a support team from my anonymous sponsor. They never showed. This is the same anonymous person that recruited me for the guerilla warfare school all those years ago. I felt betrayed, so I refused to do any more missions for the last four years. He would send envoys with orders. I would listen, and then I would kill them. Six weeks ago, he had my wife, Zana, and my youn
gest daughter, Alia, abducted. My wife has a medical condition that requires her to take regular medication. I fear she’s not getting it. My daughter is only sixteen. He had me transported to his home in Kuwait where I finally met him. He gave me a choice, to either kill a bunch of Saudis to make it look like the Americans did it, or bring you to him. If I did not choose, he would kill my wife and rape my daughter. If I failed to do the selected mission, the same punishment.”

  I nod as I think to myself, ‘He’s about to spring the trap.’ I tell him, “Show me a picture of your wife and daughter, so I can save them when I find them. I think I know where they are.”

  Abu looks surprised. He pulls out his wallet and shows me a picture of a pretty Arabic woman and beautiful Arabic girl. I burn them into my brain as he says, “This picture is about a year old.”

  “I’ll be able to find them from that. So, how are you supposed to deliver me to him?” I ask.

  “So you have it figured out?” he asks with a wry grimace.

  Shaking my head, “Not all of it, but I think I understand the desired outcome. I’m confused by Hakim having Aslan looking for you and the Dread Lord’s government stooges trying to kill you.”

  Abu picks up one of his shoes and removes the heel. From inside the heal he pulls a single bronzed cuff. “The Dread Lord said he wanted me properly motivated. He claimed I would get a three day headstart before he sent people after me. I didn’t think he did, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. He said if I died before accomplishing my mission, he would rape my daughter in front of my wife, then rape her, and then sell them into slavery.”

  He shakes his head and breathes deeply. Then he says, “I am to clamp this on your wrist. It is supposed to teleport you to him.”

  Zandra gasps, “Abu! How could you?”

  16 - I love it when a plan comes together

  “Really! That’s actually kind of cool,” is my response. I call out, “Jessica, I’m assuming you’re here somewhere. Take this to Lili and have her analyze it quickly. I want to know everything it’s supposed to do before Abu clamps it on my wrist.”

  Eileen and Zandra gasp at my words as Jessica appears beside me. She says, “Sure thing, Boyfriend. You know Trina and Lili are going to fucking explode, right?”

  I nod, “Yes, but I think it is unavoidable. I’ll ensure Eileen knows the plan before I go.”

  “Okay, Jack. You’ve been warned,” she says. Turning to Abu, “Put it back into the heel of your shoe. I don’t want to touch it in case it’s been tuned to you. This is Elf-tech. Anything is possible.”

  Abu follows her instructions and replaces the heel on the shoe before giving it to Jessica, muttering the whole time about ‘Elves,’ ‘Sidhe,’ and ‘Grey Breathers.’ Jessica takes it with a gentle bow, kisses me, and blinks out.

  I sit on the floor and pull Eileen into my lap. She wraps her arms around me as she shakes her head and murmurs, “No, Jack. Don’t do it. This is the height of arrogance to have yourself whisked to wherever he is.”

  “No, Honey. It’s not. It’s a calculated risk. We know he’s in Eastern Turkey hunting Djinn and Dragons.” Abu is surprised by that news. “I’m guessing he has three or four henchmen with him.” I ask Abu, “Does that sound about right?”

  “I think he will have either Malik, his heir, or his third son, Ibrahim, with him. His fourth son is the most dangerous and ambitious, so he won’t leave him alone at his home. He killed the second son. Probably two minions and a Sidhe will be with them.”

  “Hakim has gone to stand before Allah. I assume from his claim that he would soon succeed his father that the other brothers are dead, too. However, that could just have been his hubris.”

  “Maybe,” Abu says with a shrug. “What is this plan?”

  I grin at him as Eileen squeezes me and looks at me from my lap. “You’re going to guide the assault force to their base. I understand, the Dread Lord is Farouk bin Jaber Al-Sabah. Is that correct?”

  “Yes,” Abu agrees.

  “Can you get back there to his headquarters? Where is it?”

  Abu says, “He lives in the top floor of the Kuwaiti Tower Hotel in Kuwait City. He showed me where my family are being held three floors down, so his headquarters is at least the top four floors.”

  “That lines up with what L’liana learned from Hakim. Okay, there are twenty-seven Djinn held in glass tubes. Did you see them? They look kind of like bedouin wrapped in robes.”

  Abu nods, “Yes. They are on the same floor as my family. The Lord showed them to me and boasted how he holds the whole race of Djinn in the palm of his hand.”

  “You’ll need to lead a force in to rescue them, too. If you release them, they will likely help, but it’s not assured,” I say. I turn to our hostess as she leads Trina and L’liana on the warpath. I’m assuming Jessica is now out with the vehicles. I tell our host, “Zandra, I need you to go with them to get your men on board.”

  L’liana stands in front of me with her hands on her hips. I’ve never seen her this angry. “Husband! You will not do this! It’s insane!”

  I brook no argument, “Lili, I love you and respect you. I expect the same in return.” She gasps as though I had slapped her. “Beloved wife, I’m doing this. As I explained to Eileen, it’s a calculated risk. This guy has a history of going off on his own. Abu thinks four people with him max, but I’m pretty sure two of them are dead by their own brother’s hand.”

  Eileen crawls out of my lap, and L’liana crawls on. “I can’t lose you, Jack. I will live for a thousand more years. I cannot bear the thought of grieving for you that long. I cannot lose you!”

  I kiss her passionately. When she buries her head in my neck I tell her. “That is why I will be back. I have you and all my loves counting on me to be here for them. I love you, Lili. I won’t let you down. This is the most direct way, my Love. He’s expecting me to be surprised. Abu has shared the plan to trap me. I have you to tell me what to expect. I’m expected to show up surprised and disoriented. I’ll have the relics, my weapons, maybe your taser along with my taser flashlight, my wits, and my experience in battle. Plus, all those skills you’ve been teaching me will be a surprise for them. What did you learn?”

  “It is a paired device. These are an older design. The current design is one of my own. I’d really like to know who’s selling him this stuff. This one looks like it has been modified to render you unconscious upon arrival. They’ll strip you of all your weapons.”

  “Ok,” I agree. “How do we defeat that?”

  Trina waves a smaller version of the clutch. “Maybe this way, Master. Put your weapons into the portfolio, then roll it tightly and stuff it in this little pocket dimension. Put a few coins in the outside and put it in your front pants pocket as a coin purse.

  I nod. “Okay, I need to put the Elven blade and a different pistol in my shoulder rig.” I pull my pistol, clear the round from the chamber, and remove the silencer. I put the weapon and silencer in my portfolio in their standard slots. I put Eventide in as well before sheathing the Elven blade into my shoulder rig.

  Trina pulls another 9mm pistol from her clutch. “Use this one, Master. It’s the same model. I’ll get another one before we leave for Kuwait. I’m sure Aslan can get me one.”

  I clear it and function check it. I use my handkerchief to wipe it down thoroughly to remove any skin oil or hair from Trina. Not knowing what to expect on the other side, I figure being cautious is probably a good move. Then I load the weapon, chamber a round, decock and safe it before sliding it into my holster.

  Trina leans in and kisses me passionately. She backs off and wraps an arm around L’liana and caresses my face. “Be safe, my Love. I too would be lost without you. No other man could have claimed me. If you die, I will have to work out my grief by killing everyone that has ever met Farouk. It will be easy as all your family and all your subjects will be swinging a sword next to me.”

  “I’m sure, my Pet. I love you too much to let you suffer, so I will have
to send Farouk to meet his sons. I love you, Trina.” I kiss her again quickly. “Now, speaking about subjects and family...here’s what I think. Have Chelsea see if we can get a squad of wolves to join you. Call Salt and tell him I need a dozen Red Hats to help you. See if Myra can arrange a squad of Shadows or a squad of Summer knights, too. Hit his headquarters hard within four hours of my departure. Anyone whose eyes turn dark with the miasma, or who breathes it out, or has it leak from a wound - bullet in the head or decapitate them. No regard for age, race, or gender. They need to be irrevocably dead.”

  I pause to let that sink in. “Trina, call Supreet to see if we can get Cernunnos to send the Wild Hunt after Farouk bin Jaber Al-Sabah. Let’s see how he handles being the prey.”

  I chew on my lip for a moment. “Lili, see what help you can get from the Elven community to get everyone in the right place at the right time. Eileen, call in to Lowell’s deputy and let him know that we have a lead that puts the Dread Lord in Los Angeles, and Abu bin Hassan is chasing him there. Tell him we’re following, and ask him to book us on a commercial flight out of Frankfurt tomorrow. Use HMA to put your location in Frankfurt and call from WhatsApp. You guys use that, right?” Eileen nods. “If the SEAL Lieutenant hasn’t killed Lowell, it will potentially sow some confusion in the enemy camp.”

  The ladies all pull out their phones and start making calls. I go take a leak and then grab a glass of water. I sit down in the dark living room and drink the water. Setting the glass down, I close my eyes and start deep breathing. To make this work, I need to be calm, centered, and ready to react. I work on calming myself with each breath. I push away thoughts of different scenarios. I just focus on finding my center and relaxing.

  I am still meditating when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I take a couple of exceptionally deep breaths, inhaling the scent of cinnamon and chilis. It’s similar to Supreet’s but without the ‘silkiness.’ I open my eyes to see Zandra’s face about six inches from mine moving forward. She stops with a guilty look. I reach up and cup her beautiful face.