Obsessions: A Monster Squad Novel 7 (40 page)

Phil swung both the hammer and the sword as he came back to finish the angel. Samael ducked, blocked and dove, knowing that without an angelic weapon of his own, he had little chance of defending himself from the Halfling for long. He leapt back and took to the air, his great leathery wings beating rapidly, scooping large pockets of air and lifting him higher. “It will take more than you to defeat me, Nephilim.”

A spine shattering blow knocked the wind from Samael and sent him spiraling to the concrete floor below. He rolled to his side and saw the light skinned gargoyle flying above him, an angelic sword and shield in his hands. Samael groaned as he rolled to his hands and knees, and he felt the blood roll down his back and sides, splattering upon the broken concrete below. He lifted his mighty head and saw the Nephilim charging, hammer and sword pumping as he ran across the great warehouse.

Samael reached out and grabbed the broken body of one of his demons and hurled it at the Nephilim. He then leapt to the side and with a mighty jump, landed in the middle of the wreckage of the office. Both Viktor and Thorn fell back with surprise as the Fallen one landed amidst the rubble. “She is
mine
!” he growled at the pair as he thrust both hands into the rubble and scooped her broken body from the ruins.

Kalen and Brooke paused in their battles with the demons who survived the blast and watched as the bloody demon looking creature jumped into the air and with a mighty push of his wings, shot through a broken skylight and into the night air.

Jack looked to Azrael and pointed upward. “Stop him!”

The gargoyle clenched his jaw and made for the skylight himself. He tucked his wings and lowered his weapons to shoot through the jagged skylight.

Kalen turned his attention back to the demons. “Kill them all!” He raised his bow and watched as each demon suddenly fell to the ground, a yellow beam of light shooting from the host’s body as the demon escaped into the night.

Thorn turned a slow circle staring at the destruction. “
Sacre bleu
. We almost had them.”

Viktor placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “We live to fight another day.”

Thorn shrugged his hand away. “Do we? We will never have another chance to defeat her.” He kicked at a piece of the rubble and stormed from the remains of the office.

Jack motioned for his people to converge on him. “There’s still a chance that Azrael will catch them.”

Phil shook his head. “He cannot stop a Fallen abomination.” He hung his head. “Even with the weapons he has, he does not have the power to stop him.”

“He put a hurt on him,” Jack added. “If it can bleed, it can die.”

“True. But it can also heal.”

*****

Laura squirmed as her father stared at her. “Spill it, Punkin. I want to know everything.”

“I think I pretty much told you everything.” She picked at her fingernails as she chewed at her lower lip.

“I don’t think you did. You mentioned that monsters were real. You said that you are dating a vampire. But you said nothing about the men you working with actually
being
infected with this stuff like I am.”

“Well, how else did you think I’d know it was safe?” She shrugged as if he should have simply connected the dots.

Jim inhaled deeply and sighed. “Tell me, how many are there?”

“Enough.” She shook her head. “Dad, I’m not really supposed to talk about it.”

“Just like I’m sure you aren’t supposed to smuggle that stuff out and shoot me up with it, yet, here we are.” He narrowed his stare at her and watched her squirm.

“Daddy, really. It’s classified, and I could get into a lot of trouble for just mentioning them.”

Jim nodded. “Fine. I can understand that, I suppose.” He pursed his lips as a multitude of thoughts ran through his mind. “Can you at least tell me
why
they volunteered for this?”

She nodded. “To better fight the real monsters out there. So that they could keep up.”

“So, in order to fight the monsters, they had to
become
a monster? Fight fire with fire.”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“And that’s why you were so…adamant about me knowing the rules you expect me to live by? Because if I don’t live by those rules…”

She nodded, tears starting to form in her eyes. “Then they would definitely come and hunt you down.”

“And then somebody would put two and two together and realize what you did.”

She shook her head and finally met his gaze, her tears falling freely. “I don’t care if they find out. Hell, I’ll probably end up spilling my guts to them as soon as I get back anyway. I just don’t want anything to happen to you. If it did it would be…” Her voice cracked and she trailed off, burying her face.

“What?”

She lifted her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “It would be
my
fault. They would hunt you down, and they would kill you and it would be all my fault. Don’t you see?”

Jim shook his head. “No, Punk, I don’t. It isn’t your fault if I do something I shouldn’t. It’s called personal responsibility.” He pulled her tight and squeezed her. “I know I taught you better than that.”

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I should have told you everything.” She sniffed as he stroked her arm.

“You told me enough, Punk.” Jim stared off into nothingness.

“What’s wrong?” Laura pulled back slightly and stared at him. “I know when you’re not telling me something.”

Jim inhaled sharply and let the breath out slowly. He leaned over and picked up something that she couldn’t quite make out. He lifted it in the low light and held it out to her. She wrapped her hand around it and recognition hit her like a truck. It was the vial that held the wolf virus she had infected him with. It was empty.

She pulled back from him and stared at him with shock. “Daddy? What did you do with the rest of it?”

*****

First Squad advanced on the warehouse and caught the light from Spalding and Sullivan’s positions. Donovan approached the pair and handed them their coms. “Boss ain’t too happy you’re here.”

“He’ll get over it.” Spalding plugged in his coms and did a check.

“Don’t be so sure, Spanky,” Major Tufo corrected. “I tend to hold a grudge.”

Spalding sputtered and responded, “Sorry, Major. Didn’t realize the coms were hot.”

“Apparently.” Mark took his seat again and keyed up the helmet cams. “Make this a clean op and I’ll consider forgiving you.”

“Copy that, sir.” Spalding gave a quick rundown of what was he spotted inside the warehouse.

Sullivan added, “They’re working on a mock-up of some kind and running drills at the same time.”

Mark smiled to himself. “Those would be phony plans, gentlemen. I wish I could tell you what to expect, but honestly, I didn’t think they could be built.”

“Understood, sir.” Spalding motioned his men forward, “Two by two standard, run silent, suppressed fire.”

“Be advised, Delta One, you’re running without air support. Drones are inbound, but ETA is so far out that clean-up crews will probably be finishing up before they arrive.”

“Copy that.”

The squad made a slow advance with Lamb and Jacobs breaking left and working around to the rear of the building. Donovan and Tracy broke left and stacked up on the west roll away door. Spalding and Sullivan stacked on the south maintenance door.

Tracy broke coms first, “West entrance open, clear view through the structure.”

“Tangos?” Spalding asked.

“Negative, Delta One. West side is clear. Nothing but gear and machinery on this end.”

Spalding nodded to Sullivan. “Breach west side, Delta Five. Delta Two, provide cover.”

Lamb came over the coms. “North side is locked tight. No entry without blowing the door.”

“Copy that, Delta Three. You and Four stand by until bingo.”

“Roger that.”

Sullivan tiptoed and glanced through the window next to the maintenance door. “We’re clear on this end, boss. You ready?”

Spalding nodded. “Delta One and Six are breaching south entrance.” Sullivan opened the door and Spalding slid in, scanning left to right. Little John came in behind and above him, sweeping right to left. The pair slid to the right and behind a stack of crates.

Spalding pulled a small mirror from his vest and checked the corners. “Clear.”

The pair slipped out and made a tactical advance along the wall until they came to a door on their right. A row of cots inside lay empty and it was obvious that was where the small army was using as sleeping quarters. Spalding moved them further on until the stack of crates ended. Using the mirror again, he could see where a group of men were constructing a mock-up while another group were running drills on the lower level.

He looked to Sullivan and smiled. “Want to come in the back of that mock-up and give them a real surprise?”

“We got a warehouse full of unarmed guys and you want to go face the ones with automatic weapons first?” He shook his head. “You got a death wish I don’t know about?”

Spalding chuckled. “Buddy, that sure sounds like simunition to me. They aren’t putting any holes in that plywood.”

Sullivan’s brows knitted and he took a quick glance. “Good eye, boss. I’ve been listening to them run drills all this time and wishing they’d run out.” He checked the safety on his rifle and nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Spalding keyed his coms, “We’re heading for the mock-up. Advance and engage. Delta Three and Four, you have the bingo.” The pair scooted across the stack of crates and came to the rear of the mock-up. Spalding glanced down the length of the warehouse and could just make out Delta Two and Delta Five making their way down the length of the structure. Sullivan pushed through the flimsy back door and brought his rifle to his shoulder. Spalding slipped in behind him and followed suit.

The pair worked their way from the back to the front, taking turns spitting suppressed rounds through their rifles, watching as wolves reacted violently to the silver jacketed rounds. As they worked their way closer to the front, they waited for the next wave to enter. “Anybody got eyes on the mock-up?”

“You may come out now. We have your people,” a heavily accented voice spoke directly in his ear.

Spalding froze and glanced at Little John who visibly stiffened. John tightened his grip on his rifle and took a half step forward, but Spalding reached out and grabbed the man by his massive bicep. “Don’t.” Little John glanced back the way they had come and Spalding shook his head. He keyed his coms. “To whom am I speaking?”

“Chief Warrant Officer Martinez, we have your people. You may come out now or they will die.” Spalding slowly lowered his rifle and sighed.

“You ain’t giving up?”

“The only way he can come across our coms is if he has one of our guys.” He looked up at the low ceiling and shook his head. “And they probably have a signal blocker in place or Major Tufo would be screaming in our ears right now.”

“You have five seconds.”

Spalding keyed his coms. “Okay. We’re coming out.”

John grabbed his arm and shook his head. “We don’t surrender.”

“We’re blind in here and they have our people. As long as we’re breathing, we have a fighting chance.”

Spalding stepped to the front of the mock-up and pushed open the door. He was greeted with multiple rifle barrels in the face.

*****

Director Jameson waited for Ingram to pick up the phone. He wasn’t surprised that the man’s voice wasn’t groggy when he answered. “What is it?”

“You were right. I’m watching a video of someone rifling through my office now.”

“Is it him?”

Jameson sighed into the phone. “I can’t be certain. I want to say yes.” He paused the video and stared at the low light image. Whoever it was had a penlight in their mouth that cast them into silhouette. Even when they got on his computer, the screen blocked his face from view. “I just can’t tell.”

“I would say it’s safe to assume it’s him.”

“As would I. The question is, what are his intentions?”

“Only he can tell you that.” Ingram shifted the phone and he jotted a few notes. “Do you want me to send a team to pick him up?”

Jameson considered it for a moment. “No, let me handle him. If he has the balls to break into my office then I may have misjudged him.” He leaned back and stared at the assuredness of the man in his office. “He may well be the man for the job.”

“How do you want to play him? Let him in on the plan or keep dropping crumbs and see if he goes running to them?”

Jameson pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “I’m not sure. I want to test him a bit more first.”

“Did he get anything?”

Jameson chuckled into the phone. “There’s nothing
to
get. All of my files are hard-copied and locked tight in my safe. Without my palm print, eye scan and the combination, nobody is getting into it. You should have seen his reaction when he realized that.”