Aftermath (9 page)

Not two seconds after that brilliant deduction popped into my head there was another metallic sound and the door to the prison erupted from the ground and flew a hundred feet into the air. We watched it arc up and then down, thumping to the ground where it sunk halfway into the irradiated dirt.

“You’re no longer alone,” Mike shouted.

“No shit.”

“No, not the prisoners,” he said, “Over a dozen mental signatures coalescing off to your right.”

I spun to look where he said and saw a bunch of figures appear. “We’ve got company!” More or less the same group I’d seen at the first bomb site teleported in and turned toward us, creating an instant faceoff. They didn’t look all that surprised to see us.

The old man was there alongside the guy in the mask, plus a gorgeous woman in a slinky outfit that gave off a strong magical vibe, and a bunch of henchmen, the last seemingly split more or less evenly between Nephilim and angels and demons. The leader put a hand on the old man’s shoulder as soon as he saw me, holding him in place. Withering glares were the look of the day.

Shaw hissed at seeing them but the masked man ignored her, preferring to focus on me.

“You are quite industrious, Triggaltheron,” he said, making sure to enunciate my full name. “Surviving not one but two nuclear explosions goes to show your determination. I applaud you.”

“Three actually, but I wouldn’t expect you to know about the first one,” I answered, giving masked boy a nice smile. “But thank you for your kind words. I’ll endeavor to avoid your bomb-tossing contest especially now that I know it makes you so happy.”

He shrugged. “I’m actually rather glad you keep escaping unharmed. It bodes well that you’ll still be around when I’ve more time to take an active interest in your demise.”

I glanced about at everyone, my gaze lingering on the woman who seemed out of place amidst the rabble. “How about now? You’re here, I’m here. Seems awfully convenient. Let’s get this over with so you can stop razing America.”

He chuckled. “Now is not good for me and I admit to some disappointment that I must once again put your life at risk in order to accomplish the task at hand.” He motioned to his posse. “Deal with them but don’t spare them any kindness on my behalf.”

Everyone but the woman and old man and his masked puppeteer advanced right then, magic welling up so quickly that my senses exploded like a television channel stuck between stations, a storm of static and fuzzy snow erupting behind my eyes.

The first of the Nephilim dropped with a gaping hole where his eyeball had been a second before. Kit had one hell of an aim but it didn’t deter the others from engaging and blocking our shots at their bosses. The latter of which I’m sure was the plan.

A demon came straight at me and I took a page from ancient warfare, channeling my energy into the ground in front of me. The grass stiffened in response and burst upward with rigid excitement and formed mini-spears, reinforced by my power. The demon impaled himself before he even realized it, running straight into the wall of mutated grass. He howled for about a second before his momentum sealed the deal and killed him.

Styg ripped a blackened crater open in front of the charging minions and slowed them down a bit while Kit took another one out with her handy dandy techno-sniper rifle. Shaw tossed two of the Nephilim into the yawning crevice, both bubbling into nothingness, while I blasted an angel who leapt across the divide just as the tiny tingle of a soul transfer hit me. My eyes watered and my skin erupted in goosebumps but the demon’s power was so miniscule as to barely register beyond that, which was damn disappointing. If there was anything in the world that could drag a guy from the doldrums it was the bone deep ecstasy of a solid soul transfer. This was more a quick squeeze in public than a night spent rolling around with Keira Knightley.

The angel’s transfer was of similar quality, so much so that I ignored it in favor of retreating from the front for a second so I could take a moment to see where the old man and masked bastard had gone. I regretted doing so pretty much right away.

“What in the holy fuck is that?”

Shaw had pulled back with me while Thud and Grace stepped up to take our places and keep the minions at bay. The ground shook beneath us and we both stared with equal parts surprise and pants-shitting awe on our faces as a giant of a man stomped his way toward us. And I mean a literal giant.

“Go ahead and tell me you didn’t know this guy was cooling his heels inside your lockup?” Shaw shook her head, and I found myself obliged to believe her, nothing in her expression indicating she was lying. Quite the opposite, in fact. She looked about four shades paler than usual. “You seriously need to take an inventory after all this shit is done; moral
and
literal.”

We stared out across the scorched field, frozen in place. The giant had to have been a good fifteen feet tall and built like a Norse version of King Kong. Pale of skin with fiery orange-red eyes, he looked as if he’d just walked off the set of the TV show
Vikings on Steroids and the Demons Who Fear Them
. Long braids of golden hair trailed from his head as he closed he distance with massive steps, kicking up a storm of ashes in his wake. His every muscle rippled with the simple movement of walking.

What was worse was that his presence wasn’t all physical. Mystical energy rippled the air around him and set the hair on the back of my neck standing at attention better than any prescription. There was something ancient in his aura too, something malevolent and furious and frightening as all hell.

“Oh, what I wouldn’t give for Davey to be backing us up with his mighty slingshot right now.” From the looks of him, Goliath wasn’t gonna go down easy.

“We need to go,” Shaw said, her cold palm latching onto my arm, fingers sinking into the meat. “Retreat,” she shouted to her people, a tremble in her voice. “Retreat!”

All I could picture in my head right then was the scene from Monty Python’s
The Holy Grail
when the vorpal bunny slaughters the knights. It was enough to spur me into action.

“Run away!” I screamed and realized Shaw was doing exactly that and taking me with her.

I had a sudden moment of clarity where I reached out to Mike and gave him a heads up about what we were facing but that was all the time I had. We vanished right as the giant stomped down in front of us and offered up a toothy grin easily the size of my head. That was the last thing I saw before the darkness whisked us away.

I’d be seeing that shit in my nightmares for a long time to come.

Chapter Eight

“It was a Múspellsmegir if Michael’s quick view of the creature is anything to go by,” Rahim told me. “A
j
ǫ
tunn
.”

After Shaw had poofed us out of there we’d ended up in one the DSI buildings somewhere in El Paseo, though she wouldn’t let me near a window to see exactly where. We’d gathered our rectums off the floor, only then remembering there were still two more prisons to defend. With absolutely no clue which one would be hit next we split up again to accomplish the task. I collected Rahim and Rachelle and we returned to our vigil outside of Detroit. My faith in our mission was a wee bit tarnished at that point.

“Can you say that again in English?”

“A fire giant, Frank,” Rachelle answered for him.

“Ah, I knew that.” The giant part at least. “Maybe I’m wrong, the history lessons a little left of center down there in Hell High School, but aren’t fire giants supposed to be mythological creatures from the days of Vikings and Beowulf—the Norse hero not the kickass Venice Beach band—and whatnot? You know, as in not real?”

“All myths have a basis in reality. It’s just a matter of how much that makes a difference.”

“I’m thinking this particular myth hit a little too close to home for my liking.” I sighed. “How the hell does the government lock up a goddamned giant from the days of Thor and no one fucking knows about it?”

“You certain Shaw didn’t?”

I shrugged. “Sure didn’t look like she did. She was ready to piddle on the carpet like a frightened Chihuahua when he started stomping toward us. I’m starting to think she doesn’t know near as much about her organization as she puts on.”

“Or she’s a much better actress than you give her credit for,” Rachelle amended.

“I was raised by the best liar there ever was and Shaw isn’t anywhere near that good. The woman is winging it otherwise she would have known what prison these guys were gonna hit. They’re not just going in order of location here. They’ve clearly got an agenda that she doesn’t know shit about.”

“We’re not exactly in the loop ourselves,” Rahim said. “First, how do these people know about the prisons and who is in them? Second, what purpose do they serve?”

“Not sure we’re going to get much regarding the first question since Shaw doesn’t even know who she’s holding hostage, but the second question has some potential. Why wouldn’t the bad guys break a damn fire giant out of jail? That’s some serious muscle especially when you add in the old man masked boy freed from the first prison plus whoever that woman was. All three are operating above and beyond the grunt-level Nephilim they’re toting around. He’s busting out people of power.”

“That’s obvious, but for what?” Rachelle asked.

I shrugged. “That’s the million dollar question. Without knowing who these folks are and who’s left inside these damn jails, we’re swinging in the breeze.” I glanced to where the prison was hidden and grinned. “Maybe we should crack an egg and take a look at the yolk.”

Rahim stared out after me. “We might be doing the work of our foes.”

“At least they wouldn’t need to nuke the place to get inside then. We’d be saving lives plus we’d get the opportunity to see these prisoners up close and personal before they were whisked away. Could give us the clue we’re looking for here.”

“Is it possible?” Rahim turned and asked Rachelle.

She nodded. “I can probably break the portal that is holding the prison in Limbo but I suspect it will take some time. There’s no way for me to overwhelm the wards the way the bombs are doing so there’s also the chance that I might only bring part of the jail back to our dimension.”

All sorts of ugly images popped into my head right then. “And by
part
I suspect you don’t mean neat little sections, right?”

She shook her head. “No. If things go wrong a number of the people inside might well find themselves existing in two different realms at the same time; in pieces.”

“Yeah, I can see how that might limit our intel,” I said, quickly adding more when I saw Rachelle’s face start to twist up at my callousness. “And it would be really bad for all those people to be diced into bits.”

She sighed, and then I followed up with one of my own.

“Not winning any points for compassion, am I?”

“Not particularly, no.”

And there we were, right back on the subject of me being a heartless killer. You think I’d learn to shut up one day and not talk myself into a hole.

Nah, probably not.

“So, uh, we gonna do this or wait for Bombin’ Hood to show up again?”

Rachelle rubbed her hands together and stared off vacantly, no doubt questioning her ability to pull off what I’d asked of her. After the sweet redirect she pulled on the nuke I had to admit I was a bit concerned whether she had the juice to take on something so complicated. It wouldn’t do us any good if she ended up Ginsuing everyone inside.

“If you’re not feeling up to it, I understand,” I told her. “Been a rough day. Don’t let me pressure you into doing anything you’re not comfortable with.”

She nodded. “I believe I can do it. The wards shunt individual sections of the jail into Limbo leaving the frame here on Earth. I wouldn’t have to break down all of them to corrupt it, only the main ward that holds the hallway. Once that one was down we could enter and I could do the cells individually. That would take much of the risk away.”

“So you’re up for it?”

Rachelle shrugged. “Why not? We’ve little enough to go on that we can afford to pass up an opportunity to learn more. First I’ll need to—”

The roar of a jet winging by overhead cut her off, the plane rustling the canopy and setting it dancing. My eyes followed until I could identify it.

“That’s an F-16.”

“And it’s not alone.” Rahim pointed toward the tree line.

From where I stood it looked like we’d stumbled into an Iron Man convention where all the participants were color blind. There were at least thirty armored men stalking toward us from the woods, steel plating of some kind covered in camouflage paint. An American Flag emblem stood out on all of their shoulders. The men moved easily and I could hear the barest whisper of hydraulics as they drew closer. Each carried a gun that looked as if it had been stolen from the movie
Aliens
, the gaping black holes of the barrels pointing our way.

“We running or what?” I asked. We hadn’t exactly been on the US governments Christmas list lately so my first instinct was to bail and sort shit out with Shaw once we were gone. Rahim apparently had other ideas.

“Let’s see what they want first. We are, after all, working with one of their agencies.”

“Maybe I’m not the best judge of character but in my experience, anyone whose opening move is to advance
en masse
with guns leading the way has made their stance pretty damn clear.”

Rahim didn’t bother to answer. He just watched as the men approached.

“We come in peace,” I said, raising my hands as they came up on us. Rachelle’s magic simmered in the background ready to whisk us away.

The soldiers slowly circled, staring us down through the eye slits on their helmets. “Down on the ground!” one of them ordered.

“I don’t think so, Stark.”

His answer was to raise the barrel so it lined up with my face. He didn’t pull the trigger though, preferring instead to let the grinding hum of the tanks that emerged from the trees do the talking for him. I dared a glance over his shoulder to see the two vehicles closing, barrels centering on us but it was the man who strode between them that drew my attention.