Midnight Squad: The Grim (36 page)

           
“So it’s just a big painful reminder? Come on, can’t I
have some type of tradeoff. I have to rescue the girls, and you aren’t really giving
me anything to work with
.“
I was a little more
irritated than normal, and the pain across my chest was just starting to
subside. “Grim, that cross is special. I put that cross on you to protect you
from yourself. For now, the cross just serves as a very painful reminder, but
I’m not going to lie to you. It contains a very old power. When you kill
someone, it will take a small piece of that person’s soul. That piece enters
you and then etches itself onto your body. That’s why you’ll see the name.
It’ll move around as needed. I have my reasons for giving you this cross.
Reasons beyond the one I gave you, but for your own safety its best I keep
those a secret
.“
Jesus stretched out.

           
“Grim, I’m going to send you back, fight hard, and never
give up. I have faith in you. Do your best.”

           
“Lord, before I go can I ask you something?”

           
“Go ahead.” He looked so calm and patient. When he looked
at me, I felt like the only person that mattered. I collected my thoughts and
started, “All of this fighting. People have been fighting and killing in God’s
name for… well forever. What makes me any different? Also, with what you said
about Penny, how does that work anyway? You said she could go to heaven. If she
can go to heaven, then who can’t get in? Don‘t get me wrong, it‘s a pleasant
surprise. I‘m just a little confused.”

           
Jesus smiled, “Don’t feel bad, most people are confused.
I sacrificed myself for all of you. Anyone that accepts me gets in. Also, no
one that is honestly trying to find me will have searched in vain. This means
your little vampire can get in. It also means that Janine can get in when she’s
ready. If a man searches for God, he will find salvation. Muslims, Jews,
witches, and everyone else
gets
a chance. If you’re
honestly looking for God, then I’ll credit it as righteousness, even if you get
it wrong along the way. There is no I.Q. requirement on faith. People put too
much emphasis on the letter of the law. I want people who care about the spirit
of the law. Dig deeper than the surface. I’m not so petty as to condemn a man
who tried to find me, and along the way misunderstood the facts and backed the
wrong set of beliefs. That doesn’t mean everybody gets in. People that reject
me out of hate, people that reject God in general, and people that only pay lip
service to me never will enter heaven. Now, I need to get you back.” The whole
place started flickering.

           
“Wait! Is this going to be how it always is? Am I just
going to see you every time I get knocked on my ass?”

           
“No, in fact from now on if I need you I’ll be visiting
you in your dreams. Goodbye
Grim,
and good luck.”

           
The room flickered one last time, and then it was gone.
Then I suddenly knew what it felt like to be Wil E. Coyote. I was above the
clouds, and falling fast. Actually falling might not be the best description.
Something was pulling me back to Earth. It was as if there was giant invisible
rubber band stretching between my body, and my destination. It stretched while
I was gone, and now that I was back, it was snapping back in place. I kept
gaining speed. It wasn’t long before I realized I was being hurtled toward two
people the size of ants, they were surrounded by fire and smoke. After two
seconds, I realized one of those people was
Alhambra,
The other was…my body. The ground around us looked like a war zone. I was
close, but I wasn’t slowing down. Oh, Crap! This is gonna hurt. I slammed into
my body. I was expecting a bone jarring impact. Instead, I just simply woke up.

           
My eyes opened. I was face down, and something kept
hitting me in the ribs. Alhambra’s voice finally got my focus. “Get up! Get up
now!” She kept repeating herself and each time she gave me a stiff kick in the
ribs. “Ok, I’m up! I’m up!” The world was blurry and unfocused as I pushed
myself up to my knees. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. Finally, the world was
clear again. I looked around, and it was a world on fire. Flames and smoke
danced around us. “What happened?”

           
“Somehow you made it to my necklace. As soon as you
touched it, I was able to pull us out, and not a second too soon. The whole
place exploded. I have to give you credit, you just won’t die. You’re actually
far more resourceful than I ever could have imagined.” Alhambra never looked me
in the eyes, but she was fixated on my right hand. I watched her expression as
I lifted my hand into view. Her eyes followed it the entire time.

           
It was the necklace. Her face told the whole story. For
her that necklace was all that mattered. Her whole world begins and ends with
this clunky piece of ninety-nine cent store trash. “So this thing means you
have to do whatever I want?” I asked, shaking it a bit to make sure I had her
attention. “With that you are my master. I have to do whatever you ask. You’ll
have free reign to use me however you wish.” Her words were mechanical. There
was no emotion in her eyes. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth.

           
“What if I just gave you this?” I asked. There was a
flash of hope, but anger swallowed it up, “do not tease me Joseph.”

           
“No, I mean it. What if I just gave the necklace to you?
What would happen?”

           
“I’d be free. I would be
a masterless
Jinn
. But no one would be foolish enough to give up all this power.” Her
voice was angry, and sad. She was so sure what the outcome would be that she
didn’t even try to trick me. I tossed the clunky necklace to her. She was so
surprised that she nearly dropped it.

           
“What? Why would you give me this? Don’t you know what
you’ve given up?” Her eyes were the size of saucers. “I’m nobody’s master.
Besides, I’m trying to follow someone else’s example. You can call it
foolishness, but I like to think of it as giving you a chance. Everyone
deserves a chance.”

           
“I still call it foolishness, what fool have you been
listening to that would lead you to make such a poor decision.”

           
“Jesus.” I stated matter-of-factly.

           
“Jesus?
The Nazarene?
What
silliness! Why so many of you follow a dead Hebrew is beyond me.” Alhambra
looked all puffed up with
herself
. She was so sure. I
tore open the front of my shirt.
“If Jesus is dead, then who
the fuck did this to me?”
I watched as the color drained from her face.
“Joseph? What is that? It looks like almost like a tattoo, but there’s power in
it. It is an old magic, and I’ve never seen anything like it. Where did you get
it?”

           
“A dead Hebrew.
He put it on me
as a reminder. It’s so I never forget. Every name is someone I’ve killed. If I
kill anyone else, then their name becomes a part of the cross. That dead Hebrew
is very much alive.” I couldn’t help but smile.

           
“Perhaps, but that is of no concern to me.” Her speech
was short and clipped. Apparently, I’d touched a nerve. Still, I didn’t really
have time for any of this. Trying to move around wasn’t easy. It was like
walking through a maze of fire. I had a serious need for transportation, and
standing around talking isn’t going to save the others. Penny is in danger, and
that’s all I need to put a boot in my ass and get going. I found the blown up
husk of the vehicle. It was the remnants of what should have been my drive
home. “Joseph, why did they bring the car out here just to destroy it?”

           
I looked around. What was left of the vehicle was sitting
in the bottom of a crater. “They had a G.P.S. tag on the car. Then when
everybody cleared, Eisen must have ordered them to fire a missile. They parked
the car right where they wanted it to strike. The thing just followed the
signal all the way in and then…boom. You see how it destroyed everything around
here. The general may be a sack of shit, but give him credit for being thorough
because the missile pretty much destroyed any evidence.” Alhambra followed me
as I searched the area. There is no transportation, and all I had was the
E.P.I.C. and the Raging Bull. So I have a nonlethal weapon, and an overpowered
revolver with at most twenty rounds. If memory serves me correctly that isn’t
even enough for one bullet per soldier. I’m gonna have my ass handed to me
unless they stand in line. Now I really felt stupid carrying a backpack filled
with Penny’s stuff. I should have dropped the backpack and kept some of the
weapons.

           
Of course, none of this helped me since I didn’t have a
car to catch up anyway. I kept searching if only to have something to keep me
distracted from just how completely fucked I was. Then I saw her. The doctor’s
hand was peeking out from under some debris. I ran over, and after pulling away
the debris, I was staring down at Gina’s burnt body. There was still an obvious
bullet hole in her chest. They’d used a hollow point so that it just tore her
inside apart
.“
You’re in a better place. At least now
you can catch up with your son.” Alhambra stared at me in confusion as I closed
the doctor’s eyes for the last time. I would have preferred to give her a
burial, but everything around us was on fire. Until the flames went out it was
too hot to dig by hand.

           
With no other options, I did what I could. I started
walking in the direction that the transports must have gone. “Joseph? You can’t
seriously believe that you’ll be able to catch them on foot.” I kept walking.
It’s all I had left. “I bet you are feeling pretty stupid for giving me the
necklace. When you had it you could have just wished yourself to them, or
better yet, you could have wished them to safety. They’ll be dead before you
even get halfway to civilization. That is if you don’t die of dehydration
before then.” I did my best to ignore her jabs, and just kept telling myself to
put one foot in front of the other and hope something broke in my favor. Maybe
I’d be lucky and the transports would get a flat. Maybe they’d blow their
radiator, or maybe…ok really that’s all I have.

           
“Hey! Joseph! Joseph! It’s no fun if you don’t listen to me.”
Alhambra sounded frustrated. I just kept moving. “Joseph! Joseph!
Fine!”
I felt static dance across my body. It got stronger,
and more painful. Suddenly my stomach cramped, and I felt like I was turning
inside out. My eyes squeezed shut, and suddenly it was over.

           
“There! Are you happy now? Just remember that your dead
Hebrew didn’t do this for you. I did.” Alhambra tried to gloat, but she sounded
deflated. She was still trying to bait me. “Thank you. I appreciate the help.”
My words only made her angrier. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? Maybe
I’ll just put you back at the base! Would you like that?” She was pissed.
“Ally, you’re free. You can do anything you want. I can’t stop you from sending
me back. If you want to kill me, then I’ll be dead before I know it. I gave you
your freedom because it was the right thing to do. It’s that simple. I’m
nobody’s master. It would have been a lot more convenient to just keep the
necklace and then command you to save them, but then I’d be like that bastard that
kept you under his thumb all these years. There was never a question about
whether I’d give you that necklace. The only question I’ve had about this is
why you’re still dicking around with me when you are free. You could be out
enjoying your new freedom, but here you are just teasing and tormenting me. You
could have stayed a slave and done that. What‘s wrong? After all these years
are you afraid of your own freedom?”

Apparently,
I must have hit a nerve because the Jinn acted as if I slapped her. “I’m sorry!
I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m not good at this shit. I’m trying to do my
best because that’s what he said he wanted, and all I’ve done instead is
piss
you off.” When I finished the Jinn's mouth just hung
open. This was just not going well at all. “Ally…what went on between us is the
past. From what I understand you were just doing what you had to. You didn’t
really have any say in what he made you do. Elizabeth and the General took
turns using you against me. I’m not one hundred percent sure I believe that.
You tortured me for months. There’s a little part of me, ok it’s a lot more
than a little part of me, that thinks once in awhile you were enjoying
yourself, but that was all the past. Whatever part you had in it…I forgive
you.” Ok, I said it. I really didn’t want to open old wounds by discussing
this.

           
Alhambra hissed, “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy parts
of it. I gave you more pleasure in those three months than you’ll experience
the rest of your life. You should be thanking me.” My stomach knotted. I
couldn’t bite on this. No matter how much I wanted to, I needed to focus on the
task. The others would be coming this way and I still didn’t know how to get
the transports to stop. Even if I got them stopped, how was I going to rescue
the girls? The revolver held five rounds. Even with the speed loaders that I
brought I still didn’t have enough bullets to handle the thirty to forty men
that were assisting in the transport. I couldn’t do this without help. The
thought was killing me, but I was out of options. “You’re right. Thank you.” I
felt the bile rising up inside me. All I wanted to do was crawl into a corner
and die, but instead I said, “Can you please help me? I can’t save them on my
own.”