Armageddon?? (45 page)

Camp
Echo, New Amarah Airfield, Al Amarah, Iraq

The
truck convoy, a long line of the eight-by-eight HEMTTs, pulled up at the long
line of huge hangars that were half-buried in the ground. This was one of
Saddam Hussein’s airfields, one disused until recently but now put to a use
that the deranged dictator could never have imagined. The great buried hangars
were perfect as a detention area for captured demons. Some of the baldricks
sitting in the trucks looked at the razor wire that surrounded the hangars and
shuddered. Many bore the scars of that infernal wire.

Abigor
had a truck to himself, his size and weight made that essential, and the truth
was that he had thoroughly enjoyed his ride. The great truck had moved faster
than he had ever dreamed possible, carrying him away from the Hellmouth and
towards wherever it was that the humans would take him. The trip itself had
been an eye-opener. The black strips the humans laid across the desert were
crowded with chariots, nose-to-tail convoys of them, mostly heading west. He
had, at last, seen the Iron Chariots, ‘tanks’ they were called apparently, at
close quarters. Many different types of them, some looking similar, others very
different. Long lines of them moving west and he noted how everybody got out of
their way. He’d seen the humans inside them and they’d waved at him, shouting
things as they passed. Some had been abusive, Abigor recognized curses when he
heard them, but most were almost friendly. Once or twice he’d waved back and
that had caused the tank crews, even the hostile ones, to behave in a more friendly
manner. It seemed that humans had a strange attitude towards their enemies.

He’d
also looked at one of the homes of the Flying Chariots as the convoy had made
its way East. Two of them had been taking off, the howl they made painful to
the ears. ‘Warthogs.’ One of the truck drivers had shouted. ‘Wait till you see
them babies at work.’ They were babies? What did the parents look like? A few
minutes later, Abigor had his answer, a great chariot many times the size of
the warthogs landed and started to disgorge tons of cargo. Another followed and
by the time their convoy had moved on, two more. The movement at the flying
chariot base was constant, if the chariots weren’t taking off, they were
landing.

“General
Abigor? Follow me please.” The human spoke politely but firmly. From the number
of chariots around, disobeying him was unwise. Anyway, Abigor remembered the
long streams of chariots heading west. Arguing wasn’t an option. He followed
the human into the hangar.

It
was pleasantly gloomy inside, a pleasant change from the glaring desert sun. It
was cooler too although Abigor hadn’t been upset by the heat outside. The
interior was divided up into cages, each holding a single demon prisoner. Large
enough for him to get up, walk around and exercise. The cage walls were wire
layers interspaced with razor-wire.

“General,
these are the prisoners we have taken to date. We are doing the best we can to
look after them properly, if there are any complaints, please tell us. You are
senior officer here and responsible for them all.”

Abigor
didn’t understand much of that but the last words made sense. The humans had
given him a command, far less than a single legion that was true, but a command
none the less. It was a start. He stared at the nearest prisoner, entangling
its mind with his own.

“What
have they done with you?”

“Nothing,
they just keep us here. They feed us meat, give us water.”

“How
did they torture you?”

“They
did not. They are soft and weak. Jahnibatwesvhik over there had a long splinter
of enchanted iron in his chest. It was poisoning him so they took it out. Gave
him a drug so that he slept while it was done. As if he couldn’t have stood the
pain like a true demon.”

Abigor
nodded and turned to the human with him. “You have looked after them well.” His
voice showed disbelief and confusion.

“It
is our way, when we can. What do your people do for amusement? We have no idea
what to give our prisoners. Do you have books you read or games you play?”

We
torture human souls for our amusement. was the answer that ran through Abigor’s
mind but he guessed that saying so was not the smartest thing he could do at
this point. “We will be happy for whatever you can provide.”

“Good,
we’ll find something. General, there were civilians with your party. I must
warn you, we do not look kindly on those who use civilians as cover for their
actions.”

“Satan
sent them with me, they are my family. We were all sent to die together.”

The
human nodded. “We’ll investigate that further. In the mean time, the women and
children will be housed in another building like this one. We want you to point
out which child belongs to which mother so we can house them together.”

Abigor
absorbed the information that was pouring in on him. It was impossible, surely,
that these genial hosts could be the same merciless killers who had destroyed
his Army. “Did you take part in the fighting?”

“Sure.
My brigade held the town of Hit against your infantry. We got pasted holding
it, your guys fight well up close, but we held long enough for the gunships to
get to work. General, are any of your women nurses?”

“What
are nurses?”

“Those
skilled with helping to treat the wounded. Most of your people have wounds.”

“No.”
Abigor’s confusion levels increased to near-breaking point. What was with these
humans? In the demon armies, nobody treated the wounded. They died or got
better according to their luck. A popular demon might be looked after by his
immediate comrades, an unpopular one might get killed so he wouldn’t hold up
the rest, but that was all. Then, Abigor thought of the sight of two demons
carrying a legless third all the way back home. Contact with humans was having
disturbing effects.

“That’s
a pity. We’re short of medical staff here and we don’t know our way around your
bodies. If we operate, we could be doing more harm than good. Our medications
could kill.”

“Would
dissecting a few living demons help? I can assign a few of these to you for
that purpose if you wish?”

Colonel
David Paschal looked at the baldrick towering over him and shuddered at the
thought. Then reminded himself that these were demons after all, they were not
supposed to be nice people. He also reminded himself that his job was to watch,
learn and interact with these creatures while his shattered brigade was
rebuilt. “No thank you General Abigor, that would be prohibited by our laws.”

Abigor
was looking at him curiously. “Sire, you seem to know much about us already?”

“You
are not the first to rally to our cause. We have others as well. Some have
proved most helpful, especially a succubus we captured.” Paschal held his
breath, would Abigor fall for the bait.

He
did. His explosive snort rattled the cages. “A succubus! I hope you do not believe
everything that single-sex freak told you. They are deceivers and seducers
all.”

“No,
we adopted an old human principle ‘trust but verify’. Your people here have
been helpful in the ‘verifying’ part.”

Abigor
relaxed. “Then I will order them to continue doing so.”

Paschal
looked at the hangar around them. There was no sign of the modification but the
roof had been coated with a new aluminum foil foam laminate that was orders of
magnitudes more effective at stopping the baldrick mind-entanglement capability
than normal foil caps were. With luck, people in this hangar should be isolated
from outside mind-links. “Please do that General.”

Headquarters,
Multi-National Force, Baghdad, Iraq

“Major
Marina Fyodorovna Luchenko, First Guards Engineer Division reporting Sir. My
General has assigned me to you as liaison. He asks what would you like built
where?”

General
David Petraeus looked at the Russian officer. “Good to have you on board Major.
And your engineers, we need them badly. Our supply lines are very difficult,
the road network is completely inadequate for the volume of traffic we are
moving. It would help if somebody told the Israelis about obeying traffic
signs. Our traffic accident rate is bad enough without their assistance.”

Major
Luchenko snorted delicately. “So, Sir, what can we do to help?”

“We
need a highway Major. Starting at Diddiwanyah, then going around Al Najaf and
then due west to the hellmouth. I’d like four lanes going each way, each lane
extra wide to handle our HEMTTs – and your trucks of course.” Petraeus looked
at the Russian woman and grinned broadly. “That’s right Major, I want you to
build the ultimate highway to hell.”

Chapter
Thirty Three

Swamps
by the River Styx, Fifth Ring, Hell

Okeraphluxos
looked over the swamp from his castle. It was small, of course, just as he was
a minor duke; he owed his fealty to Kinathroses, the major duke who controlled
about half of the sixth ring, and that duke, in turn, owed fealty to Asmodeus,
who held the segments of the fifth, sixth and fourth rings, and had just
acquired a sixth of Abigor's former holdings, including good land outside the
pit and a chunk of the third ring. It had been a long time since a Great Duke
of such high status had vanished and the others were falling over themselves
trying to seize the choicest of his properties.

His
yearly report to Kinathroses was due in the next week, and he needed to find a
way to conceal the strange things that had been happening. Oh, not just the
usual fudging of the numbers; he'd been doing that for the last few centuries,
since the number of humans arriving into hell had ballooned. But even more
recently than that, his guards had become reluctant to venture into his
swampland realm. He'd had to make an example out of the most recalcitrant,
crucifying and then disemboweling him. That hadn’t done much good, they were
still reluctant to go out into the swamps alone and when they did, they were
quick to return. Those that did return.

It
wasn’t just the mysterious disappearances of his guards and the equally
mystifying destruction of the causeway through his territory. Okeraphluxos had
other major problems on his hands. His best troops were being taken away to
reinforce Asmodeus’s Army, leaving him with only the least effective, the very
old, the very young and the infirm. All untrained and looking like the soft
civilians they really were. As he sat in his chamber pondering the issue,
another dull, distant thud rumbled across the swamp. The damnable noises had
been going on just a little longer than this mysterious disease of cowardice
had been infecting his troops. The minor duke shook his head, cleared his
thoughts, and returned to the business of figuring out how to continue
deceiving his lord.

Outside
the castle, Lt Kim regarded the building skeptically. “That's a castle?” she
asked, arching an eyebrow.

Rahab
nodded. “That is the home of the minor duke who commands this chunk of the
fifth ring.”

Kim
looked at it critically. It was a large house rising out of a cluster of
smaller houses, surrounded by a piled stone wall at least fifteen feet high.
From her vantage point on top of a mound of granite, Kim could see baldricks
coming and going through the gate; most were marching in short columns, but
one, leading a row of animals that looked like rhinolobsters, but without the
long, arching tails, was seated on the beast at the head of the column.

“Note
that animal shipment down, Mac,” said Kim. “Brass will want to know everything
they can about the economy here.” Beside her, McInery was clicking away with
the cameras, documenting as much of the outpost as possible.

Rahab
was looking at Kim with a mixture of distrust and curiosity. “What are you
planning to do?”

Kim
smiled, rather viciously. “You'll see.” Indeed you will, she thought. And it
will blow your stone-age mind.

Behind
them, Madeuce loomed up, face impassive beneath its mask and goggles as always.
“Are you ready to start, ma’am?” he asked.

“You
OK, Mac?”

“Yeah,
my lungs feel like shit though. Gonna be glad to get out of here though.”
Madeuce bit his lip in self-reproach. Getting out wasn’t an option for Kim and
her crew. They were stuck here and he’d just rubbed that in.

Kim
guessed what was running through his mind. “You’ve earned an out and it’s
different for you. This place is ours now, earth is your place. Anyway, this is
your last run, kitten will be contacting us soon and then, your on your way
home. So, as your final hurrah, take it away, Lieutenant.

The
big man nodded, a hint of a smile playing about his lips. He signaled to the
other three men accompanying him, and they marched off. Kim detected a hint of
motion closer to the wall; through the dim, noxious atmosphere, she could just
make out Bubbles planting the last few bricks of Semtex. The perpetual mists
and fog of hell were annoying but it made the life of the guerilla much easier.
As Madeuce disappeared behind another rock outcropping beside the causeway
leading out of Okeraphluxos' stronghold, Bubbles slowly made his way back from
the base of the wall.