Aftermath (10 page)

Unlike his companions he wasn’t wearing any armor. Probably in his late 50s, early 60s, the man marched forward with purpose and poise. The three stars gleaming on his shoulders probably had a lot to do with that, not to mention the army he’d brought along to back his play.

“You’re trespassing on government property,” he said by way of introduction, his voice authoritative and smooth. “And given the fact that nuclear weapons have been discharged at several other locations linked to this one, I suspect you and I have a lot of to discuss.”

Rahim didn’t give me the chance to jump in. “I’m sorry, General…” he paused and glanced at the man’s name tag, “Worth, but we are here in coordination with Rebecca Shaw on behalf of the Department of Supernatural Investigation.”

The general smirked. “Seems you’ve been misled, Mister Alakha.”

The fact that he’d used Rahim’s last name sent a chill running down my spine. Worth knew exactly who we were and where to find us. That couldn’t be a good thing.

“Miss Shaw has been relieved not only of her command of this operation but of her department as well. She has no authority here.” There was a smug dose of satisfaction in his statement that rubbed me the wrong way. Any other time I’d be glad to hear that Shaw had screwed the pooch but not when we were staring down a bunch of hostile soldiers in futuristic armor backed up by tanks. “Not to mention the tiny issue of you three being wanted fugitives of the United States Government.” His smile widened. “Treason’s one hell of a charge. I’d hate to be you.”

Since when is siccing an army of werewolves and vampires on the government treason? Oh, wait…

“I suggest you do the smart thing and surrender so we don’t have a repeat of what happened last winter. I suspect a lot of people under your command paid the price for your foolishness.”

Rahim growled and I could hear the bear inside coming to the fore. General Worth was about to find himself on the wrong side of an ass whoopin’, and well deserved I might add, but that was exactly what he wanted. He was looking for an excuse to make this a fight. Whether he believed we were responsible for the bombings or not he wanted his pound of flesh and he was gonna push to get it. I wrapped a hand around Rahim’s arm and exerted some pressure to keep him from leaping at the general. The wizard stayed put but he wouldn’t for long.

Get us out of here,
I thought to Mike. No clue if the government’s toys could hurt us badly enough to keep us there, I wasn’t up for finding out.

A gate ripped open before us, cutting us off from the general and his men. I didn’t wait to see their reaction before shoving Rahim through it and ushering Rachelle right after.

“Take `em out!” I heard Worth shout just as I slid into the gate. It closed behind me and I didn’t hear anything else.

Chapter Nine

Rahim let loose a furious roar as we returned to Hell, his transformation barely held in check. The sound echoed through the caverns and brought people running. He reared back and crashed his fist into the wall, magic pulsing at the impact. Shards of stone exploded and pelted the hallway, scattering the DRAC folks. Afraid he was gonna hurt himself, I stepped in front of him and raised my hands to pacify him.

“Easy, Rahim. We’re gone.”

He growled low in his throat, seeming quite content with the idea of throwing another punch when a handful of dread fiends rounded the corner, howling. They barreled forward intent on laying the smack down on whoever was threatening Hell. I was half-tempted to let Rahim mow through them to let off some of his anger but I figured that probably wasn’t the best idea seeing how there were so many people gathered around.

“Sit! Stay,” I shouted at the fiends. They obliged me, coming to a halt. Only low rumbles sounded in their throats. Rahim turned to them and matched them growl for growl but he held his ground. I exhaled quietly in relief.

“How about you critters go find Rahim a nice bourbon and stop hovering before you get your asses kicked.”

The dread fiends snorted their derision, too damn dumb to know I was saving their asses and slunk off to do as I ordered. Rachelle came over and took Rahim’s arm in her own.

“A drink sounds wonderful right now.” She didn’t let him hesitate or argue, simply dragging him off down the hall toward their quarters. “He’s okay, everyone,” she told the assemblage. “Everything’s okay.”

I waved folks off despite their concern, reinforcing Rachelle’s edict, and followed after the pair. Wide inquisitive eyes trailed us until we rounded the corner.

“I’m sorry,” Rahim grunted to Rachelle, sounding not remotely sorry.

“Don’t be. You’ve every right to be angry but General Worth was spoiling for a fight and had the upper hand. I’ve no doubt he had other forces hidden in the woods.” She stopped and turned Rahim so he was facing her, a sly smile discoloring her lips. “That said, he made it clear he was in charge of the attacks upon our people. We’re not remotely finished with him.” The words came out as sharp as a guillotine and I had to clasp my hands together to keep from applauding. As much as Rachelle wanted to maintain the high road when it came to bloodshed there were things you just couldn’t do without swift and painful recompense. Hurting members of DRAC was top of the list. Worth had nailed a bullseye to his back with all his posturing.

She glanced to me right after she’d spoken and I offered up a little nod. It wasn’t nice or honorable or moral but the best thing to do when afflicted with cancer is to cut the shit out before it spreads. That’s what Veronica was, and Worth too. I suspected, given the look Rachelle was giving me, by the time we got back around to discussing what had happened between me and Veronica, she would have a different view of the circumstances than when I first mentioned it.

A hush having fallen over us, we started off again toward Rahim’s room. We hadn’t made it very far before Rala caught up to us.

“Hey,” she called out, her voice quiet but still raw with her anger. I spun around glad to see her, but she walked past me without a glance and stopped in front of Rahim and Rachelle. She held up a handful of the papers I’d given her. “I…,” she drew in a deep breath and clenched her teeth. “This stuff wasn’t written by someone who speaks the language. It’s all direct translations of English making it hard to make sense of but it’s mostly a journal, a personal recollection of this woman’s time in the cell. It’s pretty boring stuff for the most part.”

Rahim groaned and took the papers Rala held out. “There’s nothing that stands out?” He started flipping through the pages, reading the little alien’s notes that had been scribbled in the margins.

She gestured to a page near the back. “That one there is different. It’s random, a bunch of symbols and numbers that makes no sense, like the person was losing their mind and recording it while it happened.”

Rahim flipped to the page and stared at it. I moved over to where I could see it and swallowed my frustration at watching Rala shift so she wasn’t facing me. She was a good kid, bringing this stuff to us despite her feelings about what I’d done to Veronica but it didn’t make me feel any better that she was avoiding me. Fortunately I didn’t have to fret over it for very long.

“What are these?” Rahim asked, pulling the paper closer so he could see it better. Of course that meant none of the rest of us could see it so we had to wait for him to figure it out before showing us. “Are these coordinates?” He finally held the sheet out to us to inspect.

Rachelle nodded. “They do look like GPS coordinates.”

Rahim’s eyes went frosty and a second later Mike’s voice slipped into my skull. “They correspond to a location west of the UK, on the Isle of Man to be precise.” The image of a pastoral green plain appeared in my head, crouched under a gray sky that looked ready to dump its load.

“Who needs Google maps when we have you?”

Mike laughed. “It’s an approximation. I can’t actually see the place without one of you being there.”

“So, we gonna do this?” I asked.

Rahim shrugged. “Without context these coordinates could be anything, Frank. We have no idea whether this location is a part of the larger situation or simply some private recollection. We don’t even know if it’s truly a set of coordinates and not some ancient cypher or just random numbers. The fact that it was likely written long before the assault upon the installation makes me less inclined to follow up on it.”

“You have something better to do?” I couldn’t stop thinking about Abigail.

Rachelle stepped between Rahim and me. “The real question is, do we put our faith in Rebecca Shaw or do we take a chance and follow this clue?”

“It’s not like we can go back to the prison without risking a confrontation with the Army,” I said. “And as much as I want to put my foot up Worth’s ass we’re probably better off avoiding that quagmire—
giggity!
—altogether.”

“I agree…for now, seeing how our choices are so limited,” he answered. “Shaw’s prisons are still the key to all of this. Of that I have no doubt but I want something to confront her with but this just seems flimsy.” He rattled the paper in his hand before handing it back to Rala. “Still, thank you for your efforts, young lady.”

She gave him a meek smile and ran off, each echoing footstep a nail in my chest. One day I’d have to learn how not to be an asshole and hurt everyone around me. I chuckled inside as I thought that, shaking my head. Maybe one day dread fiends will fly.

Rachelle, oblivious to my inner monologue, reached out and peeled open a portal for us. “Might as well get on with it.”

I couldn’t agree more so I jumped through the dimensional walls and came out the other side, my feet immediately tangled in the tall grass. The humidity slapped me in the face. Rahim and Rachelle came out after me, both drawing in deep breaths of the thick air.

The location was an outdoorsman’s wet dream. There was nothing for miles and miles but sloping greenery and small hills. A gentle breeze carried the scent of rain and the clouds were gray much like Mike’s mental image, verging on black. Despite the brewing storm the place hardly looked sinister. In fact, it looked beautiful, a far cry from the dusty desert of home.

“This was probably where our little prisoner lost her virginity or something,” I said, spinning in a tight circle. “I don’t see anything that stands out. You guys?”

Rachelle shook her head as her and Rahim spread out, glancing about.

“There’s no one nearby,” Mike said.

We wandered for a few minutes, each of picking a different direction but there wasn’t anything to be found. “Guess you were right, Rahim. Nothing but grass and mosquitoes out—” A flash of red caught my eye then. I picked up my foot and stared at the wetness that had stained my boot, realizing right away that it was blood. My gaze drifted to the ground. “Hey! Over here.” Rahim and Rachelle raced over as I spread the grass to reveal a pool of splattered blood.

“This stuff is fairly fresh,” I told them, rubbing some of the fluid between my fingers where I’d wiped it off my boot. It was warm and sticky.

We circled the area but there was nothing more to be seen outside of the crimson stain hidden beneath the swaying grass. There was no body or bits or pieces explaining where the blood had come from.

“There don’t appear to be any imprints here, feet or otherwise,” I said, having dropped to my knees to examine the stain. “It’s like someone just poured out a bucket of blood.”

“Think it’s human?”

“Too bad Katon’s not around to tell us,” I said with a shrug. “Shit, for all we know some goat farmer could have had a bad morning or some coyote could have taken out a sheep here. Just seems damn coincidental though considering where we scrounged these coordinates from.”

“Most definitely,” Rahim said, turning to Rachelle. “Is it possible to tell if someone teleported here? Would they leave a trail in the ether?”

“Not one I could detect, no,” she answered, staring off around us before raising a hand into the air right above the place where the blood stained the ground. “Fortunately though, so few people are capable of teleportation that most are forced to gate through the dimensions.” She inched closer, ignoring the nastiness she stepped in. “The dimensional wall is weaker here. Someone has opened a portal recently.”

I went to stand by her, readying my magic. Rahim did the same. “Where does it lead?”

The expression on Rachelle’s face was one of frustration, her eyes narrow and nose scrunched. “I…I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t seem to re-open the gate.” She grunted and glared at the empty space for a few moments before she rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed hiss.

“What is it?” Rahim stared at her as if she’d hurt herself.

“I’m fine.” She waved him off. “I just can’t open it because the dimension is locked from the other side.”

“How do you lock—” And then it all sank in. I’d done the same thing to keep people out of Hell. “Oh, no way. You have got to be kidding me. It’s not my place, is it?”

She shook her head.

It only took Rahim a second longer to get it. He glanced up at the sky. “It leads to God’s prison dimension, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

That would have been my second guess. Third maybe.

“So how do we open it?”

“You seriously want to open it?” I asked. “I don’t know about you but I’ve had more than my fair share of that place.” A cold shudder overtook me; nothing like being devoured by a twisted creature to give a guy a complex.

“Like you said before, Frank, this can’t be a coincidence. We need to know what we’re up against.”

“And you think peeling open God’s little resort world and unleashing all its guardian critters on ours is the right thing to do?” I pointed to the blood. “That guy probably thought the same thing.”

“You have a better idea?”

“I sure do,” I muttered. I didn’t really but so wished I had. Whatever happened there was connected to God’s other realm and, while I had no idea how opening the place up again would give us any answers, it seemed the logical—however stupid—thing to do. “Fuck it. As long as we’re prepared and don’t go inside we should be good, right? Right?”