The Demon Deception (29 page)

“Oh my, isn’t that dramatic.”

Lazarus turned around to see what Lilith was
talking about. There was one ghoul left. It posed no danger,
though. In fact, it was whimpering, an incongruent sound from the
monster. It was suspended four feet in the air. A force field
seemed to surround it. The ghoul wasn’t enjoying the experience at
all.

Lazarus looked over at the van. Darcy was
lying back on the back seat. He could see the shock on her face,
fear making her pant. There was nothing in her world but that
ghoul. Her arms were thrown wide. She was sweating profusely, and
she was mumbling. Her legs were pulled in tight, trying to keep
away from the monster.

As Lazarus watched, the sphere shrank, and
compressed the ghoul’s body. Its whimpers grew louder as the force
caused its body to transform. Lazarus was dumbfounded at the
display. The body morphed, sharp edges rounding. Lazarus listened
as bones cracked. The whimpering turned into a moan, then it turned
into a scream. The scream stopped suddenly as the body imploded,
and red liquid filled the sphere.

Lazarus stepped back, unsure about the
sphere, hoping that it didn’t suddenly explode. Blood and gore
would fly everywhere. He didn’t relish the idea of being covered in
ghoul’s blood. He couldn’t even imagine the pressure inside of the
dwindling sphere. The sphere continued contracting. It became the
size of a large party balloon. Then it was the size of a bowling
ball. It shrank to the size of a baseball, then a pea. A blood red
pea. Then it disappeared completely.

Lazarus looked into the van. He looked at
Darcy’s face. She was in shock, confused. She didn’t recognize her
surroundings. Lazarus moved to the side to avoid her gaze. He
didn’t want to emulate her last victim. He waved at Sam. Sam saw,
and understood. He walked forward, and reaching through the
driver’s seat window, he put his hand over hers. She started as she
felt human contact. She glanced over, and recognized Sam. That
seemed to break the trance. She began breathing normally, and
looked around. She said something low, that he could barely hear;
something that sounded like, “Mommy.”

Lazarus walked to the side door, “you okay
Darcy?”

Her chest heaved as she blurted out the
words, “What the hell was that?”

“That was a possessed.”

“You mean, that was a demon?”

“No, that’s not a demon,” he motioned to her,
and Lilith walked forward, “Lilith, your friend and mentor, she’s a
demon.” He pointed at one of the drifting piles of ash, “What you
saw was a human, who corrupted his soul for power, was possessed by
a lesser demon, and ultimately consumed by hellfire.”

She looked at Lilith and Lazarus, finally
comprehending what they were telling her. She looked at one, then
the other, “So, you’re really Lilith, and you’re Lazarus, as in
Lazarus, raised from the dead?”

Lazarus nodded, “Are you okay now?”

She didn’t do anything for a good, long
moment. Then she nodded back at him. The bewilderment disappeared
from her face and she gave a tentative smile. Lazarus smiled as he
realized that Darcy was herself again. Lazarus held out his hand,
and she took it as she slid out of the van.

Lilith stepped up, and put her arms around
Darcy, “It’s okay, honey. If you continue in this line of work,
you’ll get used to it. Sam did.” She looked over at Sam, “didn’t
you Sam?”

“Oh hell no, I’ve never gotten used to it.
I’m just not as surprised when it happens.”

Lilith waved him off, “Don’t listen to him.
It’s not that bad.”

Lazarus disagreed, “Oh, I think it’s that
bad. The smell alone is enough to make me retch.”

While Lilith consoled Darcy, Lazarus got
Sam’s attention and pointed towards the cases, “Let’s check that
out and make sure that the missiles are actually there.”

They walked over to the munition cases. There
were six cases, instead of the four that they had ordered. Sam
pointed that out, “What the hell, there are too many cases.”

Lazarus shook his head, “I don’t know. Let’s
check them.”

The nomenclature of the missiles was written
in yellow on the outside of the plastic cases. Four of them had
AT-4 antitank missile written on them. Two of them had FGM-148
Javelin written on them. Sam whistled low when he saw that on the
boxes.

“What is it, Sam?” Lazarus asked.

“Looks like we got a little more than we
bargained for. Somehow, we acquired two javelin missiles as well as
the AT-4s we asked for.”

“What are javelin missiles?”

“They’re antitank missiles also, but they’re
much better than the AT-4s. They have better penetration. Heat
seeking, they launch out of the tube to shoot straight up, then
they come down on top of the armored vehicle, where the armor’s
much thinner. Much more likely to get an armor kill from the top
than from the side.”

“But we didn’t order these javelins?”

“No, we just ordered the AT-4s. You didn’t
ask for javelins, so I didn’t order any.”

“I didn’t even know about javelins.”

Sam separated the cases and put them on the
ground in a line. He turned the butterfly latches, and opened the
boxes. While Sam was busy with the cases, Lazarus thought about it.
He didn’t like the inclusion of the extra missiles.

“Sam, I hate to tell you this, but I think
your contact may not have survived his contact with Agent
Johnston.”

“Why do you think that, Eli?”

“The javelins. There’s no reason for them to
be here. We didn’t pay for them, and I don’t think your contact
would throw them in for free. There has to be a reason they’re
here. I think the javelins may have been in the same stash that the
AT-4s were in. If the ATF agents compromised the location where the
AT-4s were, then they probably just loaded everything up and
brought it here so that they could pile a few more weapons charges
against us. Somehow, I don’t think that your weapons dealer
survived the exchange. At the least, he’s locked up somewhere.”

“Why do you think he’s dead?”

“I don’t think Agent Johnston wanted anybody
else to get wind of what he was doing here. So the odds are against
your weapons dealer surviving to lockup.”

Sam sighed, “What a shame. It took me three
years to establish trust with that guy. Plus, he had great access
to the weapons I wanted. It’s going to be a long time before I find
somebody else with access like that. The CIA is a hard organization
to penetrate.”

Lazarus waved his hand, and ash swirled
around him, “Not as hard as you think, apparently.” Lazarus
motioned towards the missiles, “how do you want to take care of
this?”

Sam looked at the cases, and then looked back
at the van, “There’s no way that all of this is going to fit in
there. We’re going to have to take the other weapons out of the
cases in the van. We have to take the missiles out of the cases,
and put them on the floor in the back. We’ll leave all of the cases
here.”

Lazarus concurred and began pulling a missile
out of the foam padding that lined the cases. He walked past Darcy
and Lilith to the back. He sat the missile down on the ground, and
opened up the back of the van. He began moving ammunition crates to
one side, pulling weapons out of pelican cases, and lined up the
M60 machineguns. Next, he picked up the tube that contained the
missile, and laid it in the back, next to the M60s. He walked the
rifles and pistols forward, and placed them under the back bench
seat. Sam brought another missile back, and placed it on the floor,
next to the first. Lazarus walked back to grab another missile.
Darcy was already at the cases, pulling an AT-4 out to take to the
back of the van. Lilith was sitting in the front seat, drinking her
coke. Lazarus looked at Lilith, and spread his hands in
question.

Lilith looked at him, “What?”

Lazarus shook his head, and kept walking.
“Beautiful, sexy, evil, and lazy,”
he thought.

They quickly transferred the remaining
missiles, then pulled the electronic sight components from the
cases, and put them into the van, next to the missiles. They took
the tarps and blankets, and spread them out over the weapons and
munitions. Sam, Darcy, and Lilith climbed into the van, and Lazarus
went over to the controls for the warehouse door. He pressed the
green button, and the door began rolling up, sunlight cascading
through, lighting up the warehouse with an intensity that made
Lazarus blink.

He looked outside to see if there was anyone
out there that had an interest in the warehouse or them. He didn’t
see anyone or anything. He waved to Sam, and Sam backed the van out
of the door. Once the van was out, Lazarus walked out the door,
over to the van, and sat down in the back seat next to Darcy. He
slid the van door shut. He motioned for Sam to go ahead and drive.
They pulled away from the warehouse.

“Where do you want to go?”

Lazarus thought, then spoke, “I think it
would be better if we go ahead and head on to Benson. We’ll be
closer to the target, and there will be less of a chance of
interference. It’s only about thirty, forty minutes from Benson
down to the Copper Queen. Plus, we can stop at the Bisbee Coffee
Company in the morning and get some good coffee, before we drive
in.”

He turned to Darcy, “Is that okay with
you?”

She nodded. He turned to Lilith, “Good for
you?”

She waved a hand in the air, “Sure,
whatever.”

They turned onto Valencia, drove to
Interstate 19, then turned east onto Interstate 10. Another thirty
minutes, and they were pulling off Interstate 10, and into the
parking lot of the Benson Best Western.

They climbed out of the van. Sam locked the
door, and they headed into the lobby of the hotel. All four filled
out registry cards and Lazarus paid for the rooms.

“Hey, Eli, you want to get something to
eat?”

Lazarus shook his head, “No, not right now.
I’m not too hungry. I might get some Wendy’s later on. Or maybe go
to the Denny’s and get takeout.”

“What time do you want to head out in the
morning?”

“Well, we don’t have to be anywhere early. We
have to be at the Copper Queen in the afternoon. If you guys want
to go to Denny’s in the morning, we can drive down after that.”

“I thought we were going to eat at the coffee
place?” Lilith said.

“No, we’ll just get coffee there. The only
thing they have is baked goods. I want a good breakfast in the
morning.”

“You want to eat something greasy before you
go into a fight?” Darcy asked.

Lazarus shrugged, “Not necessarily greasy.
But yeah, I want a good meal. You never know when it’s going to be
your last.”

Darcy looked uneasy at his explanation. The
fight with the ghouls had taken the luster off of their mission.
Magic wasn’t as glamorous to Darcy, anymore.

They split up after that. Lazarus went to his
room, turned on the TV, and undressed for a long, hot shower. The
stench of brimstone and rot faded from his memory. He walked out of
the shower, and toweled off. He wrapped a towel around his waist,
then shaved. The foam and the razor blade felt good against his
face as he scraped the whiskers off. He took a towel and wiped away
the last of the foam. He pulled out scissors and trimmed the
mustache and beard. He brushed his teeth.

It was mundane, it was boring, but it felt
very good to do something this ordinary. The movement of the razor
against his skin, the movement of the brush across his teeth, was
rhythmic and lulled him into a sense of normality, of banality. The
phone rang, jarring him back to reality.

He crossed over to the phone and picked it
up, “Hello?”

“Hi, Eli,” Darcy paused, “can I talk to you?”
she asked.

“Sure, where do you want to talk?”

“I haven’t eaten yet. You want to go down to
Denny’s?”

Lazarus really didn’t want to leave his room,
but he knew that Darcy was pretty unsettled by the events of the
day, “Yeah, I can meet you downstairs in the lobby. Can you give me
about twenty minutes? I need to get dressed.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No interruption at all. I just wanted to get
rid of the sulfur smell. Just give me twenty minutes and I’ll be
there.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you.”

He dropped the towel and put clothes on. He
pulled on his jacket. It was warm in the desert during the day, but
the night could cool off pretty quick. Plus, he had his pistol on.
He walked out of the room and walked down the stairs.

Darcy was in the lobby waiting for him. She
was as lovely as ever. The difference between her beauty and
Lilith’s was striking. With her it was as natural as the world
around them. There was no artifice, no makeup. A smile lit up her
face as she saw Lazarus. Lazarus couldn’t help himself, he smiled
in response. He walked over to her, “how are you tonight,
sweetheart?”

Her smile dimpled when he called her
sweetheart, “I’m doing okay.”

“You ready for dinner?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m sorry interrupted your night,
Eli.”

He waved off her concerns, “Don’t worry about
it. I need to get out and get some fresh air anyway. Do you mind if
we walk?”

“No, I don’t mind. Are we going to
Denny’s?”

He shook his head, “No, I looked up
restaurants on the internet. There’s a steak house not too far
away.”

A look of concern crossed her face, “Do you
mind if we do something different? I want something a little
simpler.”

“Okay, how about Wendy’s? I haven’t had a
frosty in a long time.”

Her smile dimpled again. He motioned with his
hand that she should walk in front of him. She started, and Lazarus
stepped forward to open the door. She stepped through the door, and
Lazarus walked out behind her. He was right about the night air, it
was cooler. Darcy crossed her arms against the temperature.