The Demon Deception (19 page)

“Nice to meet you. Quite a grip you’ve got
there.”

Small talk continued as they worked. They
pulled the remaining cases of ammunition out of the pickup truck
and placed them into the van. Sam continued with the cases that
were stacked next to the pickup truck and began loading them.
Lazarus and Micah were talking about the bullet specifications.

“Yes sir, I made sure that everything you
wanted in the bullets was present. I made sure that the precious
metals were a very fine powder. I experimented with different
ranges of the metals, and modified these bullets so that they
shatter easily once they penetrate the body.”

“You have the different calibers I asked
for?”

“Yes sir. I brought you 5.56, 7.62, .338
Lapua, .45 and 9mm. Three thousand of each of the rifle calibers
and five hundred each of the pistol calibers.”

“Good. Thank you for your help. I really do
appreciate everything. Oh, for the .338 Lapua, I need it sent to
this address. Do me a favor and send it overnight.”

“No problem sir. If it weren’t for you, my
family wouldn’t eat. I appreciate your business.”

“What about the blessing of the
Monsignor?”

“Well, I gave him a call, and he told me that
you had already talked to him about this. So, when the bullets were
finished, I called him back. He came over, dipped them in holy
water, and blessed them all.”

“Fantastic, thank you.”

“Thank you, sir. But, I added a little
something as well. Something you didn’t ask for.”

Lazarus stopped, and studied Micah, wondering
where this was going, “Something I didn’t ask you to do?”

Micah nodded, “Yes sir. This seemed above and
beyond what your usual specifications called for, so I added a
small cross to each bullet. I did it before the Monsignor blessed
the bullets. I have a laser engraver, so I was able to just impress
the shape of the cross on the bullets without decreasing any
ballistic integrity. I tested them myself to make sure there was
nothing that might interfere with the flight of the bullet. Here,
let me show you.”

He pulled a few rounds out of his pocket. He
handed them to Lazarus and Sam. They looked at the bullets. Sure
enough, there was the faint impression of a cross on the bullets.
Lazarus ran his finger over the impression, but it wasn’t deep
enough for his fingers to feel it.

“Wow, I can’t feel it at all.”

Micah nodded, “Yes sir. I didn’t want the air
to drag on the cross, which would decrease your accuracy.”

Lazarus put his hand on Micah’s shoulder,
“Thank you, old friend. You are truly a craftsman.”

Micah blushed at the praise. Sam finished
transferring cases from the truck to the van. Lazarus pulled five
cashier’s checks made out for amounts around four thousand each,
some a little bit more, some a little bit less, “This should take
care of the cost of the materials. Let me know if you need
more.”

Micah nodded, “Yeah, the amount is perfect.
That shouldn’t raise any concerns with the bank.”

Lazarus agreed, “Just make sure that you
don’t deposit them all in the same month. Your regular payment will
be sent to you as well.”

Micah thanked Lazarus, climbed into his
pickup truck and drove out of the tobacco barn.

Sam watched him go, “Wow, what an incredibly
nice guy. He got this order done real quick for you.”

“Yeah, and he’s a very, very smart man as
well. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell and a Master’s degree
from MIT, both in material’s science. I’ll take you to his work
shop when we’re done with this. Believe me, it’s pretty amazing,
geared to produce what I need for operations. Highly automated, it
can knock out five thousand rounds in a half day of work.”

“Why’s he working for you? With degrees like
that, I’d think he’d be working in the private sector and making a
lot of money.”

Lazarus smiled at Sam, “Well, working for me
is the private sector, and yes, he does make a lot of money. Plus,
there’s an added advantage. Nobody knows where he is. He ran into
some problems back in Boston. He saw something he shouldn’t
have.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“He saw people from the Irish Mob kill some
rival gang members: wrong place, wrong time. Worse than that, he
saw the cops that were working with the Irish. So, he had to find a
place that he could hide out.”

“How’d he find you?”

“He’s a good Protestant. He went to his
pastor, and his pastor knew some people, who knew some people that
knew me. I was able to get him and his family out of there before
the bad guys could find him. Then I paid a visit to the bad
guys.”

They covered the extra ammunition with more
blankets. Sam had to move things around to make sure everything was
hidden, “I think we’re going to need more blankets. We’re starting
to get a pretty big stack of weapons and ammunition here.”

Lazarus looked at the stack that was growing
in the van, “Yeah, I think you’re right. Good thing we only have a
few more stops.”

Sam closed the back door, and started towards
the driver’s side. Lazarus walked around to the passenger side,
opened up the door, and slid in. Sam opened his door, pulled the
key out of his pocket, and slid in behind the wheel. He put the key
in the ignition, turned over the motor, and looked expectantly at
Lazarus.

“Were we goin’ to next?” Sam asked.

Lazarus looked straight ahead, not meeting
Sam’s eyes, “You’re not going to like it.”

“Well, there are a lot of things I don’t
like, but I’m a professional. What now?”

“Our next stop is Tulsa.”

“What do you want to get there? You know the
next weapons pick up from my guys is in Amarillo, right?”

“Not what, Sam, who. We have to pick up
Lilith.”

Sam’s hands tightened on the steering wheel
until his knuckles turned white. Lazarus was afraid he was going to
break the steering wheel. A mask descended on Sam’s face. The
handsome, craggy faced man disappeared, and a bleak, dangerous man
appeared. It was a face of death and fury. It was a face that made
the blood of hard, dangerous men turn cold.

“You okay, big guy?

Sam nodded, “Yeah, I got it under
control.”

He looked over at Lazarus, and saw the
concern on his face, “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna snap. I’m a
professional. I’ll get the job done. Mission first.”

Lazarus studied him for a good long minute.
Then he nodded, “Okay, I know. I trust you. I think you’re the only
one I could trust with this.”

Sam took a deep breath. The bleakness
disappeared, the death mask pulled back, and Sam was once again the
man who dropped bits of cheese to his cat. He shrugged, “Yeah,
we’ll get this done. I don’t want to do anything to make this any
harder than it already is.”

“Yeah, this deal is already sour, no reason
to curdle the milk.”

“Alright, I’ll just have to pretend I don’t
want to rip her apart with my bare hands,” Sam turned and smiled at
Lazarus, “It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas,
half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing
sunglasses.”

Lazarus smiled back at him, “Oh man, great
movie”

Sam looked at him, expectantly. It took
Lazarus a moment, “Oh, right. Hit it!”

Sam shook his head, “No, good quote, but the
wrong one.”

Lazarus was confused, “Isn’t that what Jake
says to Elwood?”

Sam nodded his head, “Yeah, it is, but that’s
not the quote I’m looking for.”

Lazarus thought about it, then comprehension
dawned on his face, “Ah, I understand now.”

Sam smiled and nodded. Lazarus supplied him
with the quote he was looking for, “We’re on a mission from
God.”

“Exactly,” Sam put the van in gear and drove
out of the barn towards Tulsa.

----------------------------------------------------

It took them four hours to get to Tulsa. They
drove down Interstate 35 and then took Highway 169. By the time
they got there, it was already starting to get dark. They pulled
into Embassy Suites off of Interstate 44 and spent the night.
Lazarus woke up at seven and called Sam’s room to make sure he was
up. When they walked out, there was a light rain, and the moisture
and cold settled into Lazarus, making him shiver. They had
breakfast at an ancient diner, the parking lot filled with older
cars and beat up pickup trucks. It was a working man’s diner.

“What’s with you and diners? You want to stop
at every greasy spoon on the road.” Sam asked.

Lazarus smiled. They ordered, and tucked into
the omelets and home fries. Lazarus was still concerned with Sam’s
reaction yesterday, so he brought it up again. Lazarus put both
hands on the table and looked at Sam, “You’re sure you can do
this?”

Sam looked back at him, “What, drive to the
east side of Tulsa?”

Lazarus watched him, waiting.

Sam relented, then shrugged his shoulders,
“Yeah, no problem. Don’t worry, Eli. I understand what’s at stake
here. I can manage my grudge until we deal with this problem.”

Lazarus relaxed. It was still a potentially
explosive situation. Lazarus trusted Sam. The wild card was Lilith.
He had no idea what she was up to. He just hoped that Lilith didn’t
do anything to goad Sam into an irrational action. She had that
kind of effect on people.

Lazarus left a tip on the table, and went to
the cash register to pay. Sam went outside to the van and started
it up. Lazarus studied Sam through the window. Sam looked up and
caught Lazarus watching him, and smiled wanly, knowing that Lazarus
was still worried about him.

“Is that all you need, sugar?” the waitress
asked him. He nodded and paid the bill.

----------------------------------------------------

Lazarus gave Sam directions as he drove. The
light rain stopped, and they drove through the puddles on the
street. They pulled onto a smaller side road off of Yale Avenue.
The house they pulled up to was an older one. It had rose bushes on
the sides and a porch that ran across the entire front of the
house. Three steps ran up to the porch. There was a two person
swing at one end. The house was well kept.

Lazarus saw Lilith standing outside on the
walkway leading from the house to the street.

“Is that her?” Sam asked.

Lazarus nodded, “Yeah, that’s her.”

She had changed her style, but she was
stunning. She was much more punk now. She was still a red head, but
it was a pixie haircut, with slicked back hair, much shorter than
it had been in New York. She was wearing tight black jeans, with
well-worn Doc Martins, and a stylish motorcycle jacket. She had a
large bag to match her ensemble hanging off of one shoulder. The
clothes were very tight, showing off her body to maximum effect. It
was amazing how well the tight jeans showed off her figure. She
shifted her weight, and Lazarus had a primal, visceral feeling in
the pit of his stomach.

Lazarus glanced over at Sam. He could tell
that she was effecting Sam as well. It was hard to tell if he was
attracted to her, or if he just wanted to kill her. Lazarus knew
though, violence and sexual attraction was a very fine line when
Lilith was involved. Lilith saw them. She nodded at them. Evidently
she was a tough guy now. A stylish, tough guy, but a tough guy
nonetheless.

They pulled up to the sidewalk. Sam put it
into park, and Lazarus opened his door. He walked over to Lilith,
“What’s up.”

Lilith looked at him, amusement on her face,
“Not much. How are you? Ready for this?”

Lazarus shook his head, “No, not at all.”

Lilith smirked, “Oh, don’t be such a spoil
sport. It’s not going to kill you to spend time with me.”

Lazarus looked straight ahead, “I’m not too
sure about that last part. I’m not the person to worry about,
though. You might want to consider towing the line while we’re
together.” He hooked a thumb towards the van. Behind him, Sam’s
large bulk peeled out of the driver’s seat, and began the climb
towards the sky as he stood up. He had taken his coat off, to be
comfortable while he drove. He was wearing a very tight, long
sleeve shirt that clung to his muscularity. Lilith’s eyes widened
as he walked around the front of the van.

“My, my, what a,” she bit her lip, “healthy
looking, young man.” She was visibly impressed, “Where did you find
him?”

A sardonic smile curled Lazarus’ lips, then
disappeared, “In New York.”

Lilith shivered, her excitement causing the
tip of her tongue to appear, “I don’t know where you’ve been
hanging out in New York, but I think I need to expand my
horizons.”

Lazarus shook his head, “I don’t think so. If
you go near him or his family, you won’t survive the encounter.
He’s been hanging out with me for a while. He knows about you, and
your friends.”

Disappointment played across her face,
“You’re no fun.”

“It’s not my fault you’re an evil demon whose
minions like to sacrifice children to prove their loyalty to
you.”

“I’ve never asked anybody to hurt a
child.”

Lazarus glared at her, hard, “But you didn’t
stop them either.”

She started to play the hurt damsel, but
reconsidered.

Sam walked up, and brushed his bangs back,
which immediately fell back into place.

Lazarus introduced them, “Sam, this is
Lilith. Lilith, this is Sam.”

Lilith held her hand out, and Sam took it in
his gigantic mitt. Lilith was impressed again, “Wow, big hands,” A
sultry look slipped onto her face, and looked into Sam’s eyes, “You
know what they say about men with big hands.”

Sam nodded, “Yeah, it means I have big
gloves. Which sucks, because they cost more.”

Lilith’s seductive face went blank. Lazarus
laughed. Lilith shot a venomous look at him. Sam smiled at her, and
continued to hold her hand, though she tried to pull away. She
looked up into his face. Sam leaned forward, putting his face
closer to hers, “It won’t work. I know who, and what, you are.”