Obsessions: A Monster Squad Novel 7 (11 page)

The commander did some quick calculating in his head. “I’d estimate perhaps seventy-five hundred. Perhaps even eight thousand. It just depends on how frugal we are with the spheres.”

Samael turned to Lilith and smiled. “Commander, I do not care about being frugal. We want maximum carnage.”

“Understood, sir.” The commander retrieved the vest from him and handed it back to the sub-commander. “And once we have brought them to their knees?”

Samael sighed heavily. He extended his wings. “Our intent was to have me pose as a Heavenly being and assign our queen as guardian. Obviously that isn’t possible now.”

“Perhaps you can still be of service, sir.” The commander raised a brow, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

“What are your thoughts, Commander?” Lilith asked, stepping between the fallen angel and the Roman.

“Who says the angel that appears has to be ‘heavenly’? What if an angel from the Fallen appeared…and took credit? Then our queen steps in and saves the day?”

Samael gave Lilith a sidelong glance and smiled knowingly. “You’ll need to watch this Roman, my love. I am beginning to think he is far too smart for his own good.”

6

Matt lay on the floor of the cramped room with Jenny curled beside him. The room was a shambles, the desk and chair knocked over, the mattress from the small bed now acting as a pillow against the wall, and sheets and blankets scattered everywhere. His chest rose and fell quickly as he tried to slow his breathing, sweat running down his sides and soaking the blanket underneath them.

“That was…” He trailed off, unable to find the words.

“Incredible.” Jenny nuzzled him and draped a leg over him. “When I think of the time I spent running when we could have been doing this?” She giggled at herself, drunk on the emotional high she was feeling.

Mitchell wrapped a protective arm around her and pulled her closer to him. “I never knew it could be like that.” Her hair tickled his chin and nose as he whispered to her.

She smiled and bit at her lower lip. “Me either. I guess those Fates get some things right.”

Mitchell stared at her leg draped over him and his face became solemn. “I guess it’s done now…isn’t it? I mean, we’re sealed now, right? Connected?”

She nodded almost imperceptibly. “Yes.” She turned her face to his and studied him. The way his eyes took in every little detail, the dimple in his chin, the ridge of his nose, somehow he just oozed masculinity. “Are you okay with it?”

He gave her a slight smile and pulled her tighter to him. “Yeah, I am. I didn’t know if I would be, but I am. Somehow this just feels right.”

She relaxed and exhaled deeply. Her body seemed to melt against his and she laid her head against his chest. “Good, because there’s no going back now.”

“For better or worse. Right?”

“Something like that. Definitely ‘til death do us part.”

Matt stared off into the shadows of her room, his eyes focusing on the future. He nodded more to himself than to her. “I can live with that.”

*****

“Major!” Jack trotted to his side, waving for the man to slow down. “Spare a minute?”

“Make it quick.” Major Tufo spun and headed back to his office with a stack of papers under his arm.

“I need another favor.”

“Why am I not surprised.”

“I got word from the Wyldwood and we have traveling to do. I could use some transportation.” Jack kept his voice low while they walked.

“Can’t your elf open doorways to just about anywhere?” Mark gave him a sideways look.

“Yes, sir, but…” Jack trailed off then pulled him to a stop. “We’re supposed to retrieve a weapons cache. Possibly more than we can carry.”

Mark shrugged. “So make two trips, Chief. I really don’t have transportation that I can legally lend to you. Technically, you’re a civilian.”

Jack gave him a cockeyed stare. “Really, Major? Don’t go down that alley.”

Mark raised a brow. “That a threat, Chief?”

Jack grunted a laugh. “Hardly.” He pointed to the wall behind him. “Mitchell has his new girlfriend here, we have a vampire on staff that’s supposed to be dead, our own men were infected with…”

“Point taken, Chief.” Mark huffed and glanced around. “What kind of transport are we talking here? Humvee, truck, plane, chopper? What?”

Jack shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. I want to take my guys there and check it out, then we’ll radio for support. But only if it’s needed.”

“What kind of weapons are we talking here, Chief?” Mark turned and headed to his office again.

“To be honest, I’m not sure. The Wyldwood hasn’t been very forthcoming with her information. She knows that there is another big threat coming, but she can’t pinpoint exactly what. She knows that we’ll need these weapons and these particular fighters will be key…somehow. But she doesn’t say exactly how.”

Mark turned a curious eye to him as he opened the door to his office. “She doesn’t say a lot of stuff, does she?”

“Tell me about it. It’s really starting to get under my skin.” Jack entered and fell into a chair

“Yeah, just make yourself comfortable.” Mark smirked as he dropped the pile of papers on his desk. “So, it’s some kind of special weaponry that will be key to taking out a big unknown threat.” Mark scratched at his chin and reclined in his chair. “Funny thing is, we haven’t got anything on the leaderboards. No hits, no tags, not a whisper of anything brewing out there.”

“Believe me, there’s times I want to tell her to deal with it herself, but I owe her. We all do. And she hasn’t been wrong before, so…”

“So…better safe than sorry.” Mark sighed and rubbed at his eyes. “Okay, fine. You check out her story on the weapons depot. If it pans out and you need help, radio and we’ll send support.”

“Thank you, Major.”

“Don’t thank me yet. There’s still a chance you’ll get to wherever she sends you and there’s nothing there.” He shot Jack a cautious glance. “If that happens, I’ll try not to say ‘I toldja so’.”

“Copy that, sir.”

*****

Laura pulled her Jeep into the driveway of her father’s house. She sat in the vehicle and stared at the house that she and her brothers had called home; the place that they had grown up and shared so many memories. She remembered the last time she was here, her father was so proud of her. The work that she had been doing, that she had been involved in, it was so important in his mind. He couldn’t understand how she could leave the Company to become a contractor for the military.

She opened the door and stepped from the car, her feet crunching the gravel under her boots. She inhaled deeply and smiled as the pine scented air filled her lungs. She had always loved the mountains and her father’s house sat at the foothills of the Zuni Mountain range near Gallup.

She walked slowly toward the front door and pushed it open, reminding herself that she was ‘home’. The fears and trepidation she felt at entering her childhood home left the moment she stepped inside and saw things exactly the way she remembered them. She smiled inwardly as she walked past the trophy case that contained the majority of her family’s athletic trophies. She ran a hand slowly across the glass and remembered how proudly her father would include each new addition. “I’m going to have to build a bigger case if you don’t slow down, Peanut.”

She remembered the pride she felt each and every time he’d brag on his children’s accomplishments. Their grades, their being accepted to this school or that. Their winning another swim meet or track meet or…

“Laura?”

She turned and felt relief to find her older brother standing in the hallway. “Derek, I didn’t know you were home.”

“I was just grabbing a change of clothes for dad.” He stepped closer and pulled her into an embrace. “It’s good to see you again.”

“You too, D.” She stepped back and stared at her older brother, the spitting image of her father in his younger years. “But what did you mean that you were getting some of his clothes? Isn’t he home?”

Derek dropped his eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry sis. He’s taken a turn for the worse.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s in ICU. They only let a couple of us in at a time. And
she
stays in there with him all the time.”

Laura’s heart dropped. The reason she left things unfinished with her father for so long…and she was still here. “I had hoped she had moved on to greener pastures.”

Derek shook his head. “I dunno, Laura. I always thought she was a gold digger, but Crystal has stuck with him through all of this.”

Laura shuddered at the sound of the woman’s name. She turned away from her brother and tried to hide her emotions. She could still see the blonde headed hussy’s features when she closed her eyes. Barely a year older than she was, Laura believed that her father would snap out of whatever spell she had cast and come to his senses.

Derek laid a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “He waited nearly twelve years after mom passed. We couldn’t expect him to be alone forever, could we?”

“But why her?” Laura didn’t mean for her voice to crack when she spoke. “Why couldn’t he see her for what she was?”

Derek sighed heavily and wrapped an arm around her. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t. But she made him happy. We should try to take comfort in that.”

Laura glanced around at the house and shook her head. “And she’ll inherit all of this and the kids will be cut out completely.”

Derek shook his head. “No. They never married.” He pulled her around to face him. To his credit, he said nothing of the tears running down her cheeks. “She even offered to sign a pre-nup, but Dad wouldn’t have it.”

Laura gave him a wide eyed stare. “He didn’t marry her?”

Derek shook his head and gave her a tight lipped smile. “Nope. He said that if he couldn’t get his kids’ blessings, then it wouldn’t happen.” Laura didn’t realize her mouth had fallen open. “And he meant
all
of his kids.”

*****

“Twenty-seven? I have twenty-seven of you to work with?” Bigby shook his head as he marched between the newly arrived wolves. “That’s a far cry from an army.”

“Unlike the others you worked with, we all have military training.”

Bigby turned and gave a raised brow to the wolf trailing him. “Any of them special-ops?”

“Most of them, in fact.” The leader of the wolves paused and crossed his arms. “Trained by a legionnaire.”

Bigby shook his head. “Bloody French.” He shrugged. “Better than nothing I suppose.”

“I suppose you’ve done better?”

Bigby bit back a smile but turned and gave the man a curt nod. “SAS as a matter of fact.”

“Bloody English.” The warrant officer smirked. “Better than nothing I suppose.”

Bigby refused to rise to the bait. Instead he simply nodded. “You have enough spunk, I might can deal with you.” He turned toward the office that he and Sheridan once shared, “Muster your men and get me a list of names. Have them go through the crates of weaponry at the end of the warehouse and divvy up the equipment. Make me a list of anything you feel we may need.”

The warrant officer saluted, “Aye, Major.”

Bigby slipped into the office and pulled Sheridan’s officer’s beret from his head and tossed it aside. He knew that he was no longer in the military and couldn’t be held accountable for impersonating an officer, but he also knew that if the men in the warehouse found out that he was a Staff Sergeant impersonating an officer? He would be torn to pieces. He already felt like he was no longer worthy of the Special Air Service. He took his seat and pulled out Sheridan’s hidden bottle of brandy. Taken a long pull to try to calm his nerves he closed his eyes and let the thick liquid burn his stomach.

He opened his eyes and stared out the window of the office as the men outside dug through the weapons that Sheridan had stolen. He knew that in order for him to ‘lead’ these men, they needed to believe that he was more than what he truly was. He had stolen Sheridan’s beret and insignia, affectively giving himself a field promotion to major.

Bigby pulled the plastic baggie from his coat pocket and withdrew another black pill and slipped it into his mouth. He took another long pull from the brandy bottle then slipped it back into the desk drawer. He shuddered as the bane mixed with the alcohol and entered his system. It seemed the only way alcohol could affect him was if he took the bitter pills with a snort, but even then the buzz was short.

He turned and stared at the hand drawn plans that Apollo had made for them. “If we want to cause real damage, we need to strike quickly and quietly.” He scratched at his jaw as he studied the plans. “I think maybe chlorine gas through the ventilation system. Come in afterward and put a silver bullet through the brain pan of anything still moving.” He nodded to himself when a knock at the door caught his attention.

“You wanted a list of desired equipment.” The warrant officer handed over a short list and Bigby scanned it.

“I think this is doable. I’ll just have to make a few calls.”

“Very well, sir. Meanwhile, I’ll get the men settled in and we can begin drills in the morning.”

“Mister Martinez? Do you have any idea where we may be able to obtain chlorine gas?” Bigby knew that man was unfamiliar with the area and those who supplied the black markets locally, but he wanted to test him.

“Negative, sir. But it could be manufactured easily enough.”

Bigby nodded. “We may have to.” He waved the man off. “Get some rest, Mr. Martinez. We’ll have a busy day tomorrow.”

“Good evening, sir.”

Bigby watched him march away and studied the man. “French Foreign Legion, eh?” He shook his head as he picked up his phone. “Time to see how well connected your boss is, Mr. Martinez.”

*****

“I am not familiar with this area, Chief Jack. I do not know how close I can get us.” Kalen studied the map with Jack, but his voice betrayed his lack of confidence.

“Just do your best. Loren said the weapons were buried inside the mountain near here.” Jack turned to Azrael. “I need you on your toes out there.”