Saint (Gateway Series Book 2) (18 page)

“Take her!” he shouted and the five men rushed toward Martin.

Martin braced herself and blocked out the dull pain in her leg and elbow still lingering from her encounter with Mori. She parried the thrust from the first priest and in a lightning-quick counter, slashed his chest open. Shifting her body to her left, Martin spun away from the slashing sword of another attacker. As she tilted away from the weapon, she heard the singing sound of the metal as it passed within millimeters of her face. Countering, Martin drove her sword upward and heard a groan from the second attacker as her sword entered his right side and tore through his abdomen. With her right hand still holding the blade skewering the priest, Martin slid behind the impaled warrior and pulled a sidearm from the man’s belt.

She gripped the pistol and looped her arm over the left shoulder of the injured priest. As she did, she saw the flash and felt the impact of a third attacker’s bullets on the man she was using as a shield. She squeezed the trigger twice and the third attacker fell with a bullet in his chest and one in his throat. Martin then shifted her aim toward the Saint and pulled the trigger. To her frustration, one of the white-shirted followers dove in front of him and absorbed the impact.

Martin sensed movement to her right and spun to face it with her human shield in tow. As she spun she came face to face with another priest. She saw the determination on his face and felt the warm pulse of his breath as he drove his sword forward. His sword was true and his thrust strong as it sank into her shield’s body and out his back. She grimaced in pain as the blade pierced her stomach.

“Motherfu—” shouted Martin but her curse was drowned out by the blast of her pistol as she placed the muzzle against her attacker’s forehead and pulled the trigger. Turning again, she fired toward the Saint but another follower willingly sacrificed herself for her leader.

“Stupid bastards,” cursed Martin as she sent a round from her pistol into her shield’s left leg.

As the man fell to his knees, Martin jerked her sword from his body and in a powerful slash decapitated the man. Again she turned toward the Saint and pulled the trigger but the metallic clicking told her the weapon was empty. Cursing again, she threw the weapon to the floor and lunged toward the crowd surrounding the Saint when the last priest crashed into her right side.

Martin let out a loud groan as the pain from her still-injured elbow shot through her body when it impacted the floor. Turning quickly, she looked up to see the priest swinging his pistol toward her head. Martin grabbed the attacker’s left forearm and directed the pistol away from her head as he fired. The blast was deafening but didn’t distract her. Kicking her legs into the air, she locked her legs around the priest’s head and arched her back to tighten the chokehold. The man’s face began to grow bright red and she felt him release his grip on the pistol. Not having time to choke her opponent, she quickly released the man’s forearm and pulled her knife from her vest. With a loud roar she drove the blade deep into the forehead of her attacker. She then released her leg-lock on the dead priest, grabbed her sword, and scrambled to her feet.

In front of her was a sea of followers creating a wall between her and the Saint.

“Where are you, you bastard?” she yelled. “I told you five wasn’t enough.” She walked toward the wall of followers.

“Very impressive, nonbeliever,” she heard from behind the barrier of human flesh. “But why would I worry about five, when there are five hundred, five thousand, five million.”

Martin stopped a few meters from the crowd and raised a pistol toward the group.

“Get out of the way!” she ordered.

No one moved.

“Move or I will shoot you,” she continued as she drew her own pistol.

“Threats will do you no good, Paladin. The believer is unmoved by the nonbeliever. Violence cannot overcome the peaceful lambs of the Word.”

“The Word is Peace,” shouted the group of followers.

“What the fu…” mumbled Martin. “Fine,” she answered more loudly, and she shot one of the followers in the leg.

The girl fell to the floor and after a second was helped back to her feet by surrounding followers. Back on her feet, the young girl looked directly into Martin’s eyes. Martin could see the complete lack of personal concern. Instead her face looked calm, determined, even happy. The girl then spoke:

The Believers do not fear death

Death brings the ultimate order

Death makes each Believer a Priest-Bishop

Death allows the Believer to rule over the nonbeliever

The Word transcends Death; The Saint is the Word.

“Fine by me,” replied Martin as she raised her weapon to fire again. Then she paused. In her head echoed the Elite Guard Oath she had memorized, proclaimed, and lived by since she was a cadet:

I will stand strong in the face of danger, for my comrades will do the same

I will be unafraid of death for death comes but once and cowardice is forever

I will go close against the enemy, for my will is stronger than his

I will show courage, for it is the one possession that cannot be taken

I will die with pride, for I am fighting for my lineage and my people

I will face death with joy, for I will become immortal—my shining glory never forgotten

Martin lowered her pistol. Crazy or not, she knew every single one of those misguided followers would die for this bastard.

“Shit,” cursed Martin as she struggled with how to deal with the zealots. Suddenly, the rush of footsteps at the front of the room caused Martin to spin around.

Martin turned to see another wave of followers flood into the room. As Martin braced herself, the swarm of followers slowly encircled her.

“You can answer peace with violence, nonbeliever,” came the booming voice from behind the followers. “Or you can surrender to the Word.”

“Fuck your Word!” shouted Martin as she threw her weapons to the ground and prepared to defend herself with her hands.

“Take her but don’t kill her!”

In a matter of seconds, Martin disappeared in a sea of white and gray.

***

The sound of Stone’s feet landing in the puddle at the bottom of the security ladder echoed through the dimly lit passage. So far the team hadn’t run into any problems. The technician’s codes had worked and they had avoided the limited security teams that patrolled the maintenance underground of Port Royal’s administration polis.

On the ground, Stone quickly brought his rifle to the ready and moved toward the corner of the vestibule for the ladderway. The underground was warm and humid, and Stone could feel his shirt stick to his body. No stranger to living with discomfort, he pushed the thought of his clingy, damp clothes from his mind. He crouched by the concrete wall and slowly peeked his head around the corner. Scanning the area, he saw a long, narrow passageway poorly illuminated every ten meters or so by overhead lighting. The dim light seemed to flicker as puffs of steam from leaky piping clouded the overhead of the space. Still peering down the passageway, Stone heard the others approach behind him and soon felt Mori’s hand on his shoulder.

“Clear?” she asked.

He turned back toward the others. “Looks good,” he said.

“Great,” whispered Thay. “Hopefully we’ll be out of this sauna soon.”

Stone took a quick second to savor the fact the environment was getting to the others as well.

“Our fat little friend’s info has been good so far,” said Katalya. “According to him, about halfway up this passage is the ladder that leads up to the quarters of the council member.”

“Or a security office if he’s setting us up,” replied Mori.

“I think you got your point across that double-cross us was a bad idea,” said Stone with a quick smile.

“Let’s hope so,” she replied as she moved in front of Stone. “Hand signals from here on.”

Stone acknowledged and the group started down the passage in intervals. In just a few minutes they reached a ladder leading out of the maintenance underground and hopefully to their target. The group moved up the ladder quickly despite the humidity-drenched rungs. Mori and Magnus had already moved onto the mezzanine of the last level of the maintenance area as Stone neared the top. Looking upward, he saw Mori signal for him to wait. His body tensed when he saw her add the signal for an approaching guard. As Mori disappeared from his view to take cover, Stone wrapped his left arm through the slippery ladder rung and drew his pistol with his right.

Stone pointed his weapon toward the opening at the top of the ladder. He soon heard the echoing ring of boots on the metallic floor above him. A quick look downward and he saw Katalya with her legs pressed against the ladder and her back resting on the opposite side of the access wall. Her rifle was directed toward the opening as well. A little lower than Katalya was Thay. Even in the poor lighting, Stone could see the frustration on Thay’s face—frustration in knowing that he would be out of any fight that happened.

The steps grew louder. Stone locked his gaze on the opening. If they had to open fire, they ran the chance of alerting other security forces and their plan falling apart.

Louder still. Stone heard Katalya shift the safety on her rifle to the firing position.

It sounded as though the footsteps were right on top of them. Then a muffled voice.

“Let’s head back.” Stone could hear someone grumble.

“No” came a reply. “We’re supposed to clear all of the ladders on this level too.”

“Are you serious?” huffed the first man. “The only thing down here are rats and those creepy maintenance techs.”

“I know,” replied the other. “But we got stuck on this duty for pissing off Sergeant Reiser. What’s he gonna do if he finds out we’re half-assing this watch?”

“If you want to climb down that damn ladder, knock yourself out. But who’s gonna tell Reiser if we don’t? I’m not. You’re not. So I’m pretty sure we’re safe unless they figure out how to make rats talk.”

“Screw you, Flores. Listening to you got me put on this shitty watch in the first place.”

“Fine then,” answered the exasperated guard. “We’ll go all the way down.”

“Shit,” whispered Stone through his teeth.

The angry guard continued as Stone heard his footstep growing closer.

“Yes, Sergeant Resier,” teased the guard. “Yes. Yes. I’ll walk through the underground. I’ll clean the barracks. How ’bout I just get on my knees and—”

“Shut up, asshole,” interrupted the other guard.

Stone saw the guard’s helmet through the exit hole. He took aim.

“Whatever man,” answered the antagonizer.

Stone saw the guard’s head turn away from the opening to continue to taunt the other guard.

“You’re right, Hayes. We’re probably under attack right now,” he taunted. “Better get my weapon ready. Cover me!” he mocked loudly.

Stone shifted his finger onto the trigger.

“Watch out, whoever’s down there! Security Officers Hayes and Flores are here to fuck you up!”

Stone saw the guard turn and look down the opening. Their eyes locked on each other. Stone could see the shock on the guard’s face. Just as he started to pull the trigger he saw a flash leap over the opening and the guard disappeared from his view. Stone started to pull himself up the ladder when he heard a loud groan and looked up just as one of the guards tumbled into the opening. He tightened his grip and tensed his body as the guard tumbled down the ladderway. He felt the impact of the man’s torso crash into his shoulder but maintained his grip. Then he heard Katalya grunt loudly. Looking downward he saw Katalya hanging upside by her legs and Thay shifted to his left to allow the guard to pass. At the bottom of the ladder lay the distorted body of the guard.

“You okay?” asked Stone to Katalya.

“That was close,” she replied as she pulled her torso upward with a grunt and grabbed the ladder. “Lost my damn rifle though.”

“It looks like there’s at least one available up top,” said Thay.

“Everyone okay?” came Mori’s voice as she looked into the opening.

“All good,” replied Stone. “We’re coming up now.”

As Stone reached the top of the opening to the ladder he took a quick scan of the area. A few meters from the opening lay the body of the other guard. From the looks of his injuries, Magnus had used his teeth to dispatch the guard.

“If that’s the best this Association has, we shouldn’t have any problems,” said Magnus. The blood splattered around his face and trickling down his chin confirmed Stone’s assumption.

“Nice work,” said Thay as he pulled himself out of the opening. Stone could sense a hint of jealousy in his voice. “The next one’s mine.”

“Enough patting each other’s back,” said Mori. “Thay, get that body out of sight.”

“No problem,” replied Thay as he walked toward the guard’s body.

Grasping the dead guard by the arm, he dragged the body to the edge of the opening. In an exaggerated movement, as if he was tossing a bag of rubbish into a bin, he hefted the guard’s body off the ground enough to direct him over the opening to the ladder. Then he let him go.