by Michael Todd
She sped down the 15, weaving between the cars to get to the base as fast as possible.
She looked ahead and saw a semi pulled off to the side of the road. She could hear the sirens getting louder so she veered to the shoulder, sped around the semi, and parked behind it, making herself invisible to everyone passing by. She sat there for a minute until all three cop cars went by, then pulled back out on the highway and u-turned it to head back north toward the Strip.
As soon as the dusty road came up on her left, Katie squealed her tires turning down it. She could see the compound in the distance.
The compound had been a small business park back in the day, but it had gone bust years before and the team had acquired it as their base.
All Katie knew was that her family was in there—the only people she had in the entire world—and they were going to be hit by an ambush, but had absolutely no idea. It had all been a setup from the first moment, but nobody had seen it.
She stopped at the old broken-down sign and shook her head in anger as she reached down and pulled off her heels. She tossed them in the back seat and grabbed the phone out of her purse.
She plugged it in, and as soon as it booted she dialed Korbin’s number and hit the speaker button. It rang a couple of times, but finally he picked it up.
“Katie,” he exclaimed. “Your comm went out.”
“I know,” she replied. “I had to get a little rough with the politician.”
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes. No, I mean you guys are in deep shit,” she told him. “The demons are coming for the team at the compound. They are supposed to hit you in less than ten minutes.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“That politician…he traded his life for the secret,” she said. “The secret was that Korbin’s Killers were going to be hit in thirty-two minutes, but that was back at the event. You need to batten down the hatches and get loaded for bear. Seriously, something bad—or several somethings—are going to hit us. I would have called earlier but I hadn’t set up Bluetooth and I there were police on my ass.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m a few minutes away. I can see you. This is serious. Get everyone to safety. As soon as I can I will be there, and I promise I will help handle this problem.”
“Just be safe,” Korbin told her. “We are going to be okay.”
Katie pressed End, threw the phone on the passenger seat, and floored it again. She was on a concrete road that headed from the 15 to the compound. The whole thing was open desert, so she couldn’t cut across without getting stuck. She leaned forward, slamming her hand on the steering wheel and pushing the car as fast as it could go while still maintaining control.
It was so damned typical that something like that would happen. Everything had been going so smoothly. She never—not in a million years—expected those words to come out of the politician’s mouth.
She shook her head and straightened her back, then noticed something strange half a mile ahead and off the road about a hundred yards. It was waving—shimmering, almost—and she could see demons appearing out of nowhere. She frowned and leaned forward for a better look.
“What the fuck is that?” Katie mused aloud.
That is a rift in the fabric of reality, Pandora informed her. A way for the demons to come and go from hell to Earth and back. It takes a fucking lot of power to open something like that. The last time it happened… Well, let’s just say God came crashing down.
Katie bit back a curse. I don’t have fucking time for the apocalypse. We have to shut it. How do you close it?
You have to block it, Pandora explained.
That’s a big fucking hole, Katie argued. Unless we throw something big through it, a damned army could come through.
We don’t have anything big. We are in the middle of the fucking desert. Unless you’ve got a piano in your pussy? Pandora wondered.
Why would I have a piano in my vagina? Katie yelled back, looking around for anything she could use.
“Well, there aren’t ever any dicks in it, so who the fuck knows what you store in there?”
Katie looked around her and realized that Pandora was right—there was nothing. Then she had an idea, albeit one that made her stomach cramp and her head ache.
“DAMMIT!” She sighed and shook her head. She couldn’t believe her luck. She twisted the wheel and pressed down hard on the gas, sending the car racing across the desert.
She swerved wildly, dodging the cacti and trying to keep the thing going fast enough that they wouldn’t get bogged down in the sand.
What are you doing? Pandora yelled.
Katie watched at least thirty snarling demons run from the rift toward the base. Among those thirty were three that seemed just as big as the one in LA, if not larger.
She’d had a hard enough time trying to take down one of those motherfuckers with Calvin. How the hell was she going to tackle a whole army of them? There was nothing normal about the situation, so all Katie could do was grip the steering wheel tightly and drive full steam ahead toward the rift.
She wouldn’t let the demons hurt her family.
“Holy shit,” Katie, gaping. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Just when she thought things couldn’t get any worse, a fourth seriously huge demon started to appear. The thing’s leg alone was as big as the demon in Los Angeles had been, and his aura rippled around him. Katie slammed her foot down on the gas and gunned it straight for him.
Fucking hell, bitch, Pandora screamed. You can’t go in there!
“I don’t plan to,” Katie yelled aloud.
“You are a crazy biiiiiiitch,” Pandora yelled in her brain as Katie was yelling aloud.
Katie aimed the car at the emerging demon and swung open the door, waiting until the last few seconds before throwing herself out of the car. She rolled across the sand, groaning and grunting as the car hit rocks and various desert flora.
She slid to a stop and looked up in time to see the car slam into the demon, both her car and the demon being thrown back through the rift.
The hole blinked out of existence as the massive demon went back to hell, Katie’s car going with him. She put her hands on the sand and growled as she watched sparks shoot from the rapidly closing rift.
The biggest demon was gone for now, but there were still a good number of them heading for the base. Katie couldn’t believe she had just jumped from her car before sending it plunging into the fiery depths of hell.
She was pretty sure there was nothing in her insurance plan that covered paranormal rifts.
Uh, Pandora? Katie pulled out a couple of cactus spines. Was that your brother?
Katie glanced down at her legs to examine the sand-rash that covered them. There was a rip in her very expensive couture dress, but she had to give it to Pandora—her dress was still firmly in place where it counted. Still, jumping from a car in an evening gown was probably not the best idea she’d ever had.
I think that was the fucker, Pandora admitted. He was taller than I remember.
Katie stood up and spitting out sand, Well, he owes me a motherfucking car.
With that she took off toward the base, trying to get there in time to help the others. Without a leader the demons would be slowed down, but not that much. They already had a head-start on her, so she had to pick up the pace.
“And not just any car,” Katie yelled in frustration. “That fucker owes me a brand-new Ferrari California T in California Blue with all the fucking bells and whistles.”
I’m sure he will be happy to oblige, Pandora snarked.
Okay, I’ll just take his head instead,” Katie growled, her eyes shining red.
That is something I can definitely get behind, Pandora yelled, boosting Katie’s speed. But first we have to save the others.
Korbin grabbed his phone and walkie-talkie, then hit the alarm and ran toward the stairs, taking them two at a time all the way to the personal quarter
s level. He burst through the door to find everyone standing in the living area.
He raced across the room to the stairwell door and slammed it shut, locking it tightly, then turned and let them see the anger boiling on his face.
He pointed at his men. “Eric, Jeremy, Damian, and Derek, I want you to go to all the entrances of this building and lock them down, including the roof hatch. Demons are on their way here. We don’t know how many yet, but they will be here any moment. Calvin, come with me. We have to get everyone else to safety.”
Korbin and Calvin ran down to the training level and through the secret passage into the workshop.
They didn’t even stop to say anything to Josh, who happened to be sticking something into the locked shelving. They just bolted up the stairs to the top floor where all the women were working.
Mamacita stood up from her chair and stared at the men. Something was clearly happening.
Korbin ran to the front doors and slammed them closed, then sealed them, locking everyone in the building. When he looked out the small window at the top of the steel door, he could see the demons running toward the compound. They were much closer than he’d figured they would be.
There were so many. At least thirty, and led by three very large demons. Korbin whipped around to face the girls, who had gathered around him.
He pointed to the stairs. “Everyone get to the basement. This is NOT a drill.”
Some of the girls whimpered and others shrieked, but everyone moved with haste, including Mamacita. Korbin stood at the top as Calvin ushered everyone down to the basement. Mamacita was the last to leave the manufacturing floor.
“Is that everyone?” Korbin asked her.
“Yes.” She nodded and headed down the steps.
Korbin slammed the large heavy door they had just installed and sealed it shut, then stood there for a moment to collect himself before heading down the stairs. The girls clung to each other with fear on their faces.
“The enemy, which are demons, have found our base and they are attacking,” he explained. “You should be safe, but you have to stay down here, out of the fight. Understand me?”
“What if they break through?” one of the girls asked.
“Then you grab whatever you can and you fight with everything that you have,” Korbin answered. “Joshua’s metal will hurt them, and if you cut off their heads they die instantly. Don’t be a hero. Help your sisters, help each other, and do the best you can to survive. We are going to keep them away from here the best that we can.”
Korbin turned to Joshua as the girls went off to Mamacita, looking for comfort. He knew this was a shock to a lot of them, but he knew also that Mamacita would work hard to keep them all in one piece. They were his responsibility, though, and he had to make sure they stayed safe.
“Do you have any new weapons?” he asked Josh.
“Yes, over here,” he replied, leading them over to cabinets. “Take whatever you need.”
Korbin smiled at Joshua. “Thanks.”
They grabbed a few extra knives and a couple of swords before they headed through the tunnel toward the base. Korbin shoved a knife into Joshua’s hand and grabbed his shoulder.
He looked him in the eye for a moment, and then at the women.
“Make your family proud, Joshua,” he told the young man. “Fight if you have to. Defend your home, your birthright, and the women here, who are part of our team.”
“I will,” he told Korbin confidently.
Korbin nodded and glanced back at Mamacita one last time.
He pulled the door closed behind him, leaving the others in the enclosed space. Joshua turned the large wheel on his side to completely seal the structure.
They were stuck in that box and they had no idea how long they would be there. It was a chilling feeling even for Joshua, who had seen his fair share of demons through his father.
He knew he could protect them, though, and he would—whatever the cost.
Chapter 22
Mamacita eyed Joshua as he stood in front of the doors to the underground tunnel, holding his knife firmly in his hand. He was no longer the scared little boy she had first met.
He looked like an angry man; a warrior, perhaps a shadow of his father.
She understood that he would not just sit there and wait while the others fought, and frankly she wasn’t sure she would either.
She went to the weapons closet and opened it, tilting her head at two weapons hanging from the back.
They shimmered and sparkled like the others, but these seemed special.
They were identical sais, with strong carved-ivory handles and tips that looked like they could shatter diamonds.
She reached in and ran her fingers down one of the blades, admiring the craftsmanship that Joshua had put into them. They were beautiful, even more so than some she had seen across the ocean so long ago.
Memories gently floated through her mind and she sighed, remembering her early life. Joshua walked up beside her and nodded as he looked into the closet.
He blushed, realizing she’d found his work, but she didn’t know why he would be embarrassed. It was some of the finest she had seen from him, including the swords he had made for the others.
He should be proud of these, but he probably assumed that no one would understand them, especially not on Korbin’s team.
They weren’t very skilled in karate, or anything of that level. They fought with their muscle instead of their minds, which was okay—just not workable with the sais.
“When I was growing up, I wanted to be a fighter,” Joshua explained. “But because of my difficulties, my mother wouldn’t let me do it. When I was old enough to watch television, I got hooked on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were all outcasts; different than everyone else, but inside, where it mattered, they were warriors—skilled warriors. They knew what it took to be the best, and though they ate a lot of pizza, they made sure they were the best.”
“That’s a nice story,” she told him.
He chuckled. “Yeah. Anyway, I made the sais because they were my favorite weapon on the show, and I hoped that someone else would like them and be able to use them. So far I haven’t met anyone who is knowledgeable about using them or even knows anything about karate, so I leave them hanging there, hoping one day they will be used for good.”
“Did you try to sell them?”
“No, I was afraid they would end up in the wrong hands. Honestly, I made them because I enjoyed it. When I wasn’t pushing out swords and knives to sell, I took time to work on the art of it all. It was calming and soothing to just sit and mold, to make something that had meant a lot to me when I was a kid. I could never be like the Turtles, but I could provide something that would allow others to be like them. That was what I had to settle for, so in my free time I made something that I dreamt of one day being able to use. I guess you could call it my hobby, in a way. I didn’t really have anything else in my life.”
“We all have hobbies,” Mamacita said, calmly taking off her suit jacket. “And I like the sais very much.”
She ripped her long silk sleeves from her shirt one at a time, and tossed them to the side. She stretched her arms over her head and closed her eyes, breathing deeply in and out. The girls looked at her and quieted down, watching every move she made.
“May I use your knife?” She held out a hand to Joshua.
He handed it to her carefully, and she smiled to see the beautiful craftmanship of the blade and handle. She winked at him as she leaned down and cut slits in her expensive skirt all the way to the tops of her thighs.
The girls looked confused, but continued to watch her as she handed the knife back to Joshua and squatted before kicking high in the air.
She turned to the girls and smiled.
“Makes it a whole lot easier to kick without the skirt holding me in so tight,” she explained. “We all have secrets; pasts that we don’t often talk about, and dreams that were never fulfilled. Most people have thi
s inner need to protect the ones they love. To push them and make them grow, but sometimes you inadvertently hold them back.” She looked at Joshua. “There isn’t a magic answer to any of that. Your mother did what she thought was best. But do you know the beauty of it all?”
“What?” Joshua asked.
“You are now a man. A man who is capable of anything he puts his mind to,” she told him. “So, if you are ready to be a warrior, then you can be one. If you are a weapons master, then you can be that too. Just like I told you the other day…you can be many things, but there is usually only one you are a master of.”
Mamacita turned to the side and the girls all gasped. Wrapped around her thigh, disappearing under her skirt, and reappearing across her neck and over her shoulder was a beautiful and intricate dragon tattoo. She had gone to great lengths to hide the tattoo, but for what reason?
The girls had no idea.
She looked like a different woman now, someone they didn’t recognize as their former keeper. There had been a secret warrior hidden away under the layers of clothing, long curled hair, and makeup that hid the stories in her eyes.
At that moment, though, as she walked carefully across the floor and kicked off her heels, they saw a different woman. One with honor and respect, one with a past she had yet to reveal, and one who was simmering an idea in her head while they were locked in that basement to wait for a resolution.
“And what are you the master of?” Joshua asked.
“Me?” Mamacita laughed. “Well, I’m the master of my own life, I guess. I am good at a lot of things; a lot more things that I let anyone know. But a master? I am not really sure yet.”
“Caretaker,” one of the girls yelled.
“Aw, that’s sweet. I think I am pretty good at that.” She smiled. “But not a master.”
“Businesswoman?” Joshua offered.
“Again, I am really, really good with business.” She shrugged. “I am, but I don’t think I am a master of that either. I think that what I am a master of hasn’t come to me yet, and that’s okay. The beauty in life is the journey to find what you are master of. But you know something? I am pretty good at a couple of things you would not have guessed, which was my intent.”
