Stone Soldiers 5: Black Knight Down (5 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Father Schuler awoke with a start- shocked into consciousness by very cold water splashed in his face. He sputtered and tried to sit up in his seat, but could not.

Schuler looked down and saw thick bands of steel cable wrapped around him- from his waist to his shoulders- pinning his arms to his sides and securing him to a hard, uncomfortable chair.

"Welcome back, Padre," Mark Kenslir said, leaning in so the Priest could see him.

"Where am I?" Schuler asked, looking around. He knew part of the answer right away. He was in the back of a large panel van, that was clearly in motion, driving down a very bumpy road.

Colonel Kenslir was now in multicam Army combat uniform, a pistol belt around his waist supporting a large weapon on his right thigh. A multi-pocketed combat vest was around his torso and pair of oversized combat goggles were pushed up on his forehead.

Beside Kenslir, Josie Winters had similarly discarded the biohazard suit she’d been wearing over her own Army ACUs. She was sipping from a bottle of water and watching the priest quietly. On the other side of the van, Victor, also now in ACUs, was watching Schuler as well with his eerie, stone eyes.

Schuler strained against the cables around him once more.

"Forget it priest," Kenslir said. "That's winch cable. Ten-thousand pound test strength, wrapped around you like a mummy's bandages. You aren't breaking free."

Schuler glared. "Taking me to your masters?"

"No- we're taking you to the airport."

Schuler was confused. "Airport?"

The young-looking Colonel with green-black eyes stepped back and folded his arms across his chest. "Yep. You've got a flight to catch. To Mexico. Then I believe you're headed back to Rome. You've been recalled."

"I don't understand."

"The Vatican confirmed your identity and demanded we hand you over. Washington was only too happy to oblige. So we're seeing to it you get on that plane."

Schuler looked at Kenslir, then Josie and Victor. "Who do you monsters work for?"

Josie was taken aback. "I'm no monster, Father."

"No, you're a witch," Schuler said. "I felt your attack on my brain."

"That was cryokinesis," Kenslir said. "She can freeze things with her mind. She's a psychokinetic- not a witch."

He nodded toward Josie and she held her bottle up then stared at it. The water froze rock hard within the bottle.

"What about him?" Schuler said, nodding toward Victor. "Your Golem?"

"Classified," Kenslir said. "But I can assure you, we're the good guys."

"So says the werewolf."

"How did you know that?" Josie asked, surprised.

"He reeks of it- I don't know how anyone couldn't smell that," Schuler said, glaring at Kenslir.

"Okay, technically, I may be a little cursed," Kenslir said, reaching into a pocket of his vest. He pulled out a very small Bible. "But I'm not evil. See?"

"To an unbeliever, it's just a book," Schuler said.

"What, you want him to gargle Holy Water or something?" Josie asked.

"
Ex Malo Bonum
, Padre," Kenslir said. "We fight evil with evil. We use it for good."

Schuler spat on the floor of the van. "There can be no good from evil."

"Okay, then- enough about us," Kenslir said. "Let's talk about you."

He reached to the side, toward Victor, and the stone-faced man put a wallet in his hand. Schuler's wallet.

"My young friend here is a psychic- among other things. He had some very interesting visions about you when he touched this."

Schuler bristled in his seat.

"Care to explain how a parahuman is working for the Church? I thought they normally burned us at the stake."

"I've heard of you people before," Schuler said. "We've known for a long time the United States was using magic to combat its enemies."

"The Church has spies?" Josie asked, shocked.

"They have their fingers in everything," Kenslir said, glancing over at her briefly.

Then he turned back to Schuler. "Don't want to fess up about your particular position? Fine. Tell me what you're doing in Oklahoma. Records show you flew in from your Church- in the Dominican Republic."

"I'm here for the same reason as you. Black Knight."

"We haven't called it that since the early 70s," Kenslir countered. "Why is the church so interested in a satellite?"

"It must not be tampered with," Schuler warned. "You're dealing with forces you can't begin to understand."

"So tell us."

Schuler remained silent, watching Kenslir closely.

The Colonel leaned back and sighed. "Father, if we had the power to bring that thing down, surely we'd know what it was, right? What's the harm in talking about it?"

"So you didn't bring it down," Schuler said, relaxing a bit and leaning back as best he could.

He looked over at Victor. "Whatever you do- don't touch it. It could be particularly dangerous for you if you're a psychic."

"So what is it, Father?" Kenslir asked. "Aside from being prehistoric."

"It comes from a time when the earth was not just the home of man."

"You mean the giants?" Josie asked. When Schuler gave her a puzzled look, she explained. "We've sort of met a couple of them before."

"He means when the Fell were abundant."

"Fell?" Schuler asked.

"Fell, Fellish, Fallen- the
Nephilim
. Our scientists always like to put their own name on things. I've encountered a few Fell before."

"Nothing you've encountered would be like those that walked the earth before Noah," Schuler said. "They had powers- strength- you can't imagine."

"Seriously, Father- we have encountered them before," Josie said.

Schuler closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He strained against his bonds. After several long seconds, the steel cables around him began to break, layer by layer, from his waist up.

Kenslir was unruffled as the heavy steel lines snapped and parted then fell away from the priest. "So you're Fell."

"I'm nothing compared to the ones that built Black Knight."

"How old are you?" Josie asked. "Were you around before the Flood?"

"No- but my father was. I grew up hearing stories about the old Earth and those who walked upon it."

"Very eloquent- but let's stay focused here. Black Knight."

Schuler rubbed his wrists and thought about it for a moment. "You need to bury it- but first you've got to stop whoever brought it down."

"It didn't just fall out of the sky?" Victor asked, finally joining the conversation.

Schuler shook his head from side to side. "No- Black Knight has been in orbit for millennia, changing its orbit, correcting for solar wind. It was brought down. Intentionally."

"Why?" Kenslir asked. "What is it?"

"It's better you not know," Schuler said. "But whoever did, does- and that is very dangerous."

The truck finally came to a stop and the motor was shut off.

"End of the line, Father. Hope you like the in-flight movie," Kenslir said.

Schuler was shocked. "You're really sending me away? You need my help."

Kenslir moved to the rear of the truck and opened the doors. They were on a parking apron at an airport- a large plane parked nearby.

"Sorry, Father- my orders were quite clear."

***

"No, No, No!" Colonel Chad Phillips said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. He was standing in front of two tables upon which were hundreds of tiny pieces of plastic Lego building bricks- many broken. Seated at the tables were four men made of living stone- trying to carefully put the bricks together.

"Look, you have got to take your time," Phillips said, stepping up to a table and setting a new block down before one of the shaven-head stone soldiers.

"This is stupid," Dean Johnson said, pushing the small bricks away from him. He was tired of the tiny bits of plastic breaking between his powerful stone fingers. "We should be on a range or something."

"You already know how to shoot and fight," Phillips said. "That's why you were chosen for this program. Now you need to learn how to use these stone bodies of yours."

"Why were you chosen?" Wayne Stevens asked.

Phillips looked around at the four newest stone soldiers. Beside Johnson and Stevens were Paul Briones, a quiet Filipino, and Isaac Jacobson, a formerly lanky farmboy from Wisconsin. All had been Navy SEALs until just a few days ago. Now they were petrified- turned into men of living stone like Phillips had been until very recently.

The Colonel raised a hand toward Stevens. A hot, blue-white bolt of electricity, like lightning, leapt from his fingertips and slammed squarely into Stevens' chest, flipping him over backwards.

"Because I can do that," Phillips said.

The three SEALs still seated in their chairs looked over at Stevens- who now had a large, half-melted, half-burnt hole in his black t-shirt. Stevens got up and brushed himself off.

"That didn't hurt."

"That's the point," Phillips said. "You men have completely new bodies. Until you master some basics- like picking up these toys without breaking them- you aren't touching anything dangerous."

An alarm sounded from Phillips watch.

"Captain Smith will be here shortly," he said. "Keep at it until then."

"Where you going, sir?" Johnson asked.

"I've got to get repetrified, like the rest of you."

Phillips turned and left the large training room. He followed a hallway in the office building the team was based in, finally entering an elevator that was waiting for him. Inside it was Jimmy Kane.

"Headed to the Fountain?" Kane asked. He was wearing flip flops, baggy shorts and t-shirt, and the oversized gold and silver restraint collar.

"Yep," Phillips said, stepping into the elevator. The doors closed and the elevator began descending on its own.

"Don't you miss being human?" Jimmy asked.

"I've lived one life already. Spent the past ten years in a nursing home with no feeling below the waist. Being stone isn’t so bad."

"But you could stay flesh and blood- have another life."

"I was married, raised a family and buried a wife," Phillips said. "I don't need to do that again. I've got a chance to serve my country- to make sure my grand kids and kids like you get to live a full life. I'm going to take it."

Jimmy looked at the floor, considering. "So, I should petrify too?"

Phillips reached over and pressed the stop button on the elevator. It came to a smooth halt.

"Kane, you're young. As I understand it, you had your life taken away by that giant in Arizona. You got a second chance thanks to the Fountain and the Medusa program. Now you're getting a third chance. You do what you think is right for you."

"A normal life would be nice."

Phillips laughed. "Normal? Kid, you're a werewolf now. Even if this collar stops you from changing- even if Mark can find a way to make that permanent- you'll always be cursed. You may be flesh and blood, may be able to start a family, but you're never going to be
normal
again."

Jimmy checked his own watch then switched off the emergency stop. The elevator resumed its descent. "We better get down to the basement."

***

Chadwick Phillips leaned back on the cold metal of the surgical table and waited for Doctor Farb to shackle him. The thick metal shackles on his feet and ankles were somehow colder than the table. Once he was locked into place, Farb tilted the table, almost to a vertical position, so Phillips' feet were next to the metal grating floor.

Phillips was ready now- his head had been shaved, he’d emptied his bladder, and he had changed into polyester athletic shorts. He'd been given a series of injections to prepare him.

Doctor Farb checked his watch, his hand hovering on the switch to lower the platform they were on, down into the warm waters of the Fountain.

The Fountain Chamber was nearly empty now. Only two soldiers stood by, just inside the door, armed with rifles Phillips knew would be loaded with silver bullets.

A wave of pain swept over Phillips, and his body spasmed. The sun had just set. Phillips began to jerk and twitch. His back arched involuntarily as a seizure swept over him. The moon had already been up for almost four hours. The curse was taking hold of him now.

The platform jerked then began lowering toward the still waters of the Fountain of Youth. Phillips' muscles swelled, his shoulders widened just a bit. Hair was starting to sprout the skin all over his body as his bones started to readjust- moving into new positions and changing their shape. Then the water of the Fountain rose up over his feet.

The warmth of the water swept up and over him and the pain of the transformation was gone. His bones shifted back into normal position. Hair dropped off of him like dust save where it should grow on a human.