Fallen: The Demontouched Saga (Book 2) (7 page)

“Make your move, Father. I love killing priests.”

I make the only move I have and pull the trigger, catching him in the shoulder with my one remaining round.

He lets out a laugh and starts to move my way. I use my power to fling the gun at the demon and jump over the counter. He just shrugs it off and squares up to me.

I grip my knife with the blade side down. I’m not really sure how practical it will be in an actual fight, but it looks pretty awesome when I see people do it in the movies.

It doesn’t really matter at this point. Unless Eunie decides to step in, I don’t have a chance fighting a demon in a boxing match. Even without any special powers they may possess, they are much faster and stronger than humans by a long shot. This becomes clear about five seconds into the fight when he connects with a blow to my gut. I fly back into the wall behind me and collapse to my knees on the ground.

“Now would be a great time for some help, pal.”

The demon picks me up by my collar and lifts me in the air. “The only help you are going to get is a slow death.” He slams me back into the wall, knocking the air out of my lungs.

I close my eyes and mentally prepare for the next shot. Moments later my eyelids start to glow. The sensation is something like putting a flashlight up to your eyes with it shut. Not wanting to risk blindness I keep my eyes shut until I find myself back on the ground.

“It’s over now, princess.” I feel someone grab me under the arm. I open my eyes as Az lifts me up to my feet.

“What was that?” I ask.

“We call that a smite.”

“It is a bit more flashy than this thing.” He says handing me my knife.

“Nal.” I walk over to the bar. “You OK?”

“I’m good.” He wipes the blood from the corner of his mouth. “What were they after?”

“The cases. The Expedition was loaded with em.” I grab one of the unbroken bottles from the counter and toss back a drink.

“Any idea where they are taking them?” Nal asks.

“We found them at the old Nilton building. The only thing I know is that they were going to take them to the convention center.”

“The meeting?”

I nod. Whatever was in the cases is very important to whatever the demons have planned. I need to get downtown in a hurry to check it out, but I have one problem. “I’m gonna need another ride.”

-10-

Az and I wait until nightfall before leaving. We don’t know what they have in store downtown, but it isn’t set to go for two more days. I also wanted a few hours to kick back after getting my ass handed to me in the hotel.

We left Nal down at the station and took his Impala to the city. He decided to hang around with Ed to make sure he figured out the case.

I park the Impala in an alleyway about a mile from the center. Driving around this building at this time of night may make them suspicious, parking a car right outside would just be stupid.

Garbage lines the streets, the smell of rot fills my nose. Chalk that up to another downside of the end times. Garbage disposal is seemingly not a priority. Thankfully, it has cooled off here in the last few weeks. I can’t imagine how this place is in the summer.

Other than the occasional cat, the streets are clear. Being out in the daylight is dangerous enough. Most avoid going outside at night unless there wasn’t another option.

This side of town was known for its heavy gang activity before the Rising. Now, with a reduced police presence, things are much worse. I’m glad they are leaving us alone tonight.

We walk around the final corner and come upon the center. The building is fairly large for a convention center. They were hoping to entice the NBA to move a team here about ten years ago, so they built this place figuring it would push things to their favor. When the NBA decided against a move, or expansion, the city decided to recover some of the costs by hiring a company to keep events booked year-round.

We walk slowly around the building, looking for anything out of place. Inside the lights are off and the outer walkways look empty. Someone could still be inside, so we need to be careful.

When we get to the rear parking lot, I notice the Expedition backed up to the loading dock.

They didn’t waste any time bringing the cases here. They probably didn’t want to risk losing them again. I don’t blame them. I would have probably done the same thing.

We walk up to the ride and open the doors. Inside I see about half of the boxes still sitting in the back. I look up at the dashboard and notice my keys in the ignition. Part of me wants to just grab the car and go, but something tells me that Azrael is more interested in what is going on here than trying to hide the cases.

I hear the sound of footprints from inside the dock. Whoever was unloading the cases was coming back to grab more.

Az and I duck down in front of the car as the footsteps approach. Two guys approach, each pushing a two-wheeled dolly. We peek up over the front as they load a pair of boxes on each dolly, waiting until they turn around to make our move.

They take a few steps in before the one on the right pulls out a piece of paper to look at it. If I had to guess, it is a map telling these punks where to put the cases. He looks over and tells the other one something I can’t hear before walking off in different directions.

“Split up?” I pull my knife out and put the wireless headset in my ear.

“Sounds good. Let me know if you find something.” He jumps on the dock and follows the guy to the left. That leaves me with the guy with the map. I follow him for a few hundred feet before he stops at an elevator. He pulls a card out of his pocket and swipes it through some sort of reader nearby. If I had to guess, he is planning on using the service elevator to go upstairs. There is no way I can follow him in there.

I scan the area, knowing there has to be a staircase nearby. It takes a few moments, but I notice it right past map guy. I wait until he enters the elevator before making my move.

Once the door starts to close, I make a mad dash towards the stairs. I don’t have any clue what floor he is going to, so I need to hurry.

By the second floor I find myself wishing that I stuck with jogging as an adult, though I’m sure the pain in my ribs isn’t doing me any favors. I do a quick scan of the floor before going up to the next one.

I get to floor three, peek around the corner, and jackpot. Map guy is walking down the hallway to my right, though it looks like the top box is open. I pull out my knife and walk into the hallway.I’m about twenty feet away when the worst thing possible happens.

From my pocket, my Metallica ring tone goes off at the loudest volume possible. Map guy pulls his gun and takes a few shots at me before ducking into a nearby doorway. I let out a few choice words before running off after him.

“You OK over there?” Az says through the headset.

“I’m good. Forgot to put my phone on vibrate.”

Az laughs. “Watch yourself. My guy is headed your way too.”

I peek around the corner and see the other guy running around the balcony with a gun drawn. “Just the two of them?”

“Yeah. Your guy is hiding behind the seats about six rows back. Keep your head down. I’m headed your way.”

“I’ll do my best.” I reach around the corner and pop off a few shots at the runner. The shots aren’t even close, though that wasn’t the goal. I just needed to slow them down to give Az time to get to me. Runner starts to fire back, forcing me to duck back around the corner.

The key to surviving a gunfight is movement. Smart movement. I know that if I stay here around this corner it is only a matter of time until they get to me. Then again, running in the open would be a worse choice. Buildings like this, with long, open hallways are the worst places to find yourself. The carts that are scattered down the hall would provide a little cover, but I can’t afford to be pinned behind one.

I poke the gun around the corner and fire off a few more shots before retreating. Unless I can make it back to the stairwell, I need to move over a few more entryways. It will give me a better line of fire and hopefully catch them off guard.

“How close are you?” I ask before I look around the entryway. There is no sign of map guy, but I see runner behind a row of seats at the balcony holding his arm. I must have managed to land a shot.

“Four sections down.”

That puts him six away since he doesn’t know I moved. “Your guy is on the ground, no sign of mine.”

I feel the touch of cold steel on my neck. “Drop your weapons.”

I do what he says and then raise my hands in the air.

“What are you doing here?”

“You stole my truck.”

“So you were the one stupid enough to steal from Israfil. He has something special in store for you.”

“I don’t do surprises.”

“Oh, but I think you do. Walk.”

I make it a dozen steps before I hear a gurgling noise from behind me. I look over my shoulder and see a sword sticking through Map’s neck. Az pulls the blade back through and the body falls to the floor.

“Thanks for the save.”

“Save it, we need to get out of here fast.” He says, handing me my weapons.

“What about the cases?”

“Unless you plan on taking out a couple dozen demons, they are going to have to stay.”

I don’t like the thought of leaving the cases, but I hate the thought of losing my life more. I bend over and reach into map guy’s pockets and pull out a piece of paper. It is definitely a map of the center, with a bunch of little red circles marked all over. I put the map in my pocket and we high tail it out of the place.

-11-

“Why did we have to leave my car again?” I shift in my seat looking out the rear window of the Impala.

“You like having demons chasing you around?”

“Not particularly.”

“They followed you once. They will do it again. Next time they will make sure they kill you.”

He is right, but I still hate leaving the car. I pull out my phone and see who called earlier.

Nal.

I guess I should see what he was calling about.

“What took you so long? I called you over an hour ago.”

“Had some demon troubles. Find something out?”

“Oh, did we! Your cases were full of some high grade explosives. I’m not sure what your friend has in store, but I’m sure it’s big.”

“I think we may have a clue.” I pull out the map and start looking at the red marks. They are evenly spaced around the center. If I had to guess they are located around the support beams. That means the meeting in in two days is a trap. “Do you have a way to get the word out on the street to avoid the meeting?”

“I can make a few calls.”

“Do what you can. The meeting is a trap.”

An hour later we pull up to my house. Az thought it would be better if we took a more scenic route back, in the off chance that we were being followed.

I open the door and notice Sara slumped over her laptop asleep. I walk up and notice she has a page up with information about Mayor Goldman. He was the unfortunate sucker who was running the city when the Rising hit. Since then, he has been vital to getting things cleaned up and running. They have had some luck getting a few areas up and running, but the battle on the riverfront set him back a bit.

I reach over and run my fingers through her hair. I hate to wake her up, but we only have about 30 hours until the meeting. She jumps slightly, but smiles once she notices it’s me.

“Find anything else on the flash drive?”

“I know the convention center is a trap. They are planning to load the place full of explosives, killing anyone who shows up.”

“They already have the place wired to explode.”

She opens up the file on the drive. The first file is a map showing the locations of the bombs.

I pull out the copy of the map I found and show it to her. Sure enough, the two match up perfectly. “What else do you have?”

“The mayor is in charge.”

“Of the bombing?”

“Yep. A few weeks ago some of his colleagues started noticing him acting a bit strangely.” She pulls up another file. “Half of his people disappeared last week. The others are still with him.”

“If I had to put money on it, our the mayor is no other than our friend Israfil.”

“So what’s our next move?” Sara asks.

As much as I want to get back to the convention center and remove the bombs, the place is going to be heavily guarded by now. The way I see it, there is only one simple solution.

“I have to go to the mayor’s office.”

“Seems rather direct.” Az says. “We could kill Israfil before he has a chance to throw the switch.”

“If the mayor is a demon, why would he let you anywhere near the building?” Sara asks.

“Demons are cocky. He probably believes that he can handle anything that comes through that door short of an angel,” I look over at Az, “which we happen to have.” Demons are arrogant by nature. Especially ones that have been around as long as Israfil. He has swatted plenty of lesser beings before me. When I walk through that door he will look at me like I am another cockroach under his boot.

“What if that doesn’t work?” Sara asks. “You don’t have that long to get this figured out.”

“It has to work. If it doesn’t there is no way we can keep the place from blowing.”

The mayor’s office is located about a mile away from the convention center, dead in the middle of downtown. We approach from 64 to the south which gives us a nice clear view of what is left of the Arch. It’s been a while since I came this way in the middle of the day. The south side of the monument is about half intact, which is more than you can say about the north side. After the explosion, I’m surprised there was anything left.

Four years ago this area of town would have been a madhouse in the middle of the day. Double that if the Cardinals were playing. I’m thankful that the streets are fairly quiet today.