The Demon Deception (13 page)

This guy was much better at hiding than the
other shooter. Sam was having a bear of a time finding him. There
was nothing artificial, no straight lines, nothing he could find.
He didn’t see any movement, didn’t hear anything. Then it drifted
to him on the wind. It was something most guys didn’t think about.
Hell, most guys didn’t need to think about it. Sam thought about
it, though. Little things like that were important when your life
was on the line. That was why everything he used was scent free. He
didn’t like to use any kind of products that had a smell to it. Out
here in the woods, smell can give away your position. It smelled
like shampoo, or soap. It was faint, but the breeze carried it to
him.

Sam saw the lights of the Dodge bouncing down
the logging road. He was out of time. He thought he knew where the
shooter was, but he wasn’t positive. He could smell him, but he
didn’t have an exact location.

Sam watched as the Dodge drove past the road
to the valley. He breathed out, knowing that this was just a short
reprieve. He watched the lights turn around and start heading back.
Things were not going well. He watched the Dodge stop. He knew what
Lazarus was thinking. Do I turn in, or do I drive out. Lazarus
didn’t know if Sam had gotten the last of the shooters, or if the
shooters had gotten him.

He watched the Dodge turn onto the side road.
The bright lights were on, making it hard to see who was behind the
wheel. The lights played across the side of the ridge.

Sam saw something out of the corner of his
eye. He wasn’t sure it was real, and he didn’t want to move too
quickly. He hoped that the shooter was preoccupied with what
Lazarus was doing on the valley floor. The Dodge stopped, and the
door opened. Lazarus climbed out, standing behind the door. He
cupped his hands around his mouth. He stood behind the lights,
which made his form indistinct to Sam and the sniper on the
ridge.

Lazarus yelled, “Hey, Sam, did you kill the
snipers yet?”

Sam heard the sniper curse. Instantly, he
snapped the MP5 up into the firing position and began shooting. The
bullets shredded the sniper’s camouflage netting. The sound of the
bullets hitting flesh were punctuated by the grunts of the dying
man. Sam walked over to him. The man cursed him, in several
languages. He stood on the dying man’s neck to help him on his way.
Weak hands slapped at his feet and legs. Soon, there were no more
curses.

Sam pulled out his radio, “You crazy bastard.
Yeah, I found them both. Problem solved.”

Sam went through the pockets of the dead man.
He grabbed the rifle, and went back to the first man he killed. He
pulled out all of the dead man’s pocket litter, and slung that
rifle as well. He turned and walked down the hill.

When he got to the truck, he piled the two
rifles on top of the bed cover. He took the magazine out of the
MP5, and made the weapon safe. He did the same thing for both of
the Weatherby .308s.

Lazarus looked at the rifles, “Weatherbys.
Let me guess, the snipers are British. SAS?”

Sam shook his head, “No way. These guys were
way too easy to kill. They weren’t military trained snipers. They
didn’t have spotters or any kind of security. They didn’t have
anybody watching their six o’clock approach. No way they’re SAS. I
don’t even think they were Brits. Hell, I don’t even think they
were military. As civilians go, they were good. But it was like
they learned it out of a book, all theory, no real practice. I
don’t think they were fully briefed on who they were going up
against. So, maybe they were some kind of mechanic, but not
military, possibly some kind of organized crime. Lookin’ at their
pocket litter, their IDs are good, but not the best. So, whoever
they are, probably not a government organization backing them.”

Lazarus tucked that bit of information away,
“So, now, where’s the cache with our weapons in it?”

Sam pointed at the lights on the pickup
truck, “Maybe we can do this without telling everybody where we
are.”

Lazarus walked back and turned the lights
off, “Anything else you need?”

Sam nodded, “As a matter of fact, there’s a
shovel in the bed of the truck. Can you get it out so that we can
dig up the cache?”

Lazarus looked down at the pants and shoes he
was wearing. He wasn’t exactly dressed for digging in the mud. Sam
watched Lazarus’ silent appraisal, “Don’t worry, I’ll do the
digging. This time.”

Lazarus took the two rifles and the
submachine gun and put them on the back seat. He opened up the
camper, rummaged around and pulled out the shovel. Sam took a
flashlight and GPS out of the truck. He turned on the GPS, let it
warm up, and put in the geo coordinates. He walked forward with the
GPS, and turned the flashlight on. Lazarus followed him with the
shovel. Sam came to a stop. He traded the GPS and flashlight for
the shovel. Lazarus held the flashlight so that Sam could see what
he was doing.

Sam started digging. He jammed the shovel
into the dirt. Two shovels of turned dirt, and the shovel struck
something. It wasn’t buried very deep. His smile beamed in the
light of the flashlight, “I guess they didn’t want to work too
hard. For once, I’m glad somebody decided to be lazy.”

Sam cleared the dirt off of the pelican
cases. Lazarus walked back to the truck, and drove it over. Sam
pulled the boxes from the ground, and handed them to Lazarus.
Lazarus walked them to the back of the truck. He opened up each
case, and inventoried the contents.

“Was it everything you wanted?” Sam
asked.

Lazarus nodded, “yeah, looking pretty good.
We have the long guns and the pistols. And, they threw in a lot of
extra ammunition as well.”

Sam was happy, “See, I told you my contacts
were good. Now that you’re satisfied, we can wire the money for the
next geo coordinates.”

Lazarus was satisfied with the arraignment.
It was working well so far, despite the interlopers.

“Hey, Sam, you might want to tell your
supplier about our welcoming committee.”

“Huh, why?”

“Think about it. If these guys knew we were
coming to the cache, somebody had to tell them.”

Sam nodded, “Yeah, I see. There has to be
someone on the inside feeding them information. And, if the snitch
is feeding them information about us, they may be feeding
information about my suppliers. I don’t think they’re going to be
too happy to find out they have a snitch in their operation.

Lazarus agreed, “I can well imagine they
wouldn’t.”

----------------------------------------------------

Lazarus thought
about the last geo cache that they had picked up. The more he
thought about it, the less he liked the situation. The problem that
he contemplated was the truck they were in. It was large, which in
itself, wasn’t a bad thing. It had plenty of room for weapons and
munitions. Plus, it had a big back seat, which would give Lilith a
place to sit.

The problem with the pickup truck was that it
belonged to Sam. Anybody that knew Sam, knew about the pickup
truck. If anyone wanted to jam them up, all they needed to know was
that Lazarus and Sam would be carrying illegal weapons and
munitions, and the make, model, and license plate number of the
truck they were carrying them in. Next thing you know, there’s a
fatal shoot out on the side of the road, and R.I.P. for Sam and
Lazarus.

Lazarus brought this up with Sam. Sam didn’t
look too happy about giving up his comfortable Dodge Ram with the
bucket seats and the satellite radio. It took a while, but Lazarus
finally brought him over to the idea of ditching the truck for the
rest of the trip.

“So, where are we going to get a
replacement,” Sam asked.

Lazarus replied, “No problem. I have a guy in
Indianapolis that can help. His last name is Moretti, and he has
some ties with organized crime. He can point us in the right
direction.”

They made good time driving to Indianapolis.
They got there and stayed at a Hyatt for the night. The next
morning, they got up to head over to Lazarus’ contact. Lazarus gave
Sam the address, and Sam plugged it into his mapping program.
Thirty minutes later, they pulled onto Union Street, up to a
Catholic church.

Sam pulled up in the street next to the
church, “Really, a Catholic church? Who do you work for again? Are
you trying to put me on a direct path to hell?”

Lazarus laughed, “Don’t worry. I’m not
working for the infernal powers. Father Moretti has family on both
sides of the aisle. He can give me a name, and send me someplace to
get a vehicle we can use.”

They walked inside, kneeled, and made the
sign of the cross. They walked back to Father Moretti’s office.
They stepped inside the office, and an older lady working outside
of Father Moretti’s office smiled as they entered, “Can I help
you?” The plate on her desk said, ‘Mrs. Donbar.’

Lazarus nodded at her. “Yeah, I need to talk
to Father Moretti. I have a favor to ask of him.”

She looked confused, “Do you have an
appointment?”

Lazarus shook his head, “No, my friend and I
were driving through, and I wanted to stop by and say hello.”

Mrs. Donbar’s confused look changed to one of
concern, “I’m sorry, he’s a busy man. Usually, we need you to make
an appointment.”

Lazarus smiled. He thought this might end up
being a long conversation. Not because Mrs. Donbar was trying to be
difficult. Lazarus got the feeling from the conversation that Mrs.
Donbar wasn’t quick on the uptake. He decided to try a tactic that
had worked out well for him in the past. He decided to be extremely
pleasant to her.

“No ma’am. I’m sorry. Let me explain. I’m an
old friend of Father Moretti. My name is Eli Bethany.”

He smiled at her, she smiled back. He walked
over to her and put his hand forward to shake hers. As she reached
out, he took her hand, then turned it and kissed the back. She
blushed. After he kissed the back of her hand, he put his left hand
over the top of hers, in effect, sealing the kiss between her hand
and his, creating an intimate moment between them. He looked into
her eyes.

“If you could, I think Father Moretti will be
happy to see me. Could you please tell him that Eli Bethany is
here?”

She blushed, and stood up. She was definitely
not used to getting this much attention from a man. Her husband
probably hadn’t created that feeling of intimacy in quite a long
time. She walked over to Father Moretti’s office, and opened the
door. She stepped inside and announced them. She said something
else that Lazarus couldn’t quite hear.

“Ah, Eli! How are you Eli?”

The voice boomed out of the office. Mrs.
Donbar walked out, a gleam in her eye as she looked at Lazarus,
“Father Moretti will be happy to see you, Mr. Bethany.”

Eli bowed slightly, “Please, call me Eli. All
my friends call me Eli.”

Mrs. Donbar looked very pleased as she sat
back down. She would be thinking about that kiss on her hand for
quite some time. Sam watched the entire situation with amusement.
As they walked into the priest’s office, he leaned over and told
Lazarus, “You’re going to have to teach me that move sometime.”

Lazarus’ face was the picture of innocence,
“What move’s that?”

Sam snorted. They entered the priest’s
office. As they walked in, Father Moretti stood up with his arms
spread wide. Moretti walked around his desk and gave Lazarus a hug.
Moretti let go of Lazarus, looked at Sam and held out his hand,
“Hello, how are you? My name’s Father Moretti.”

Sam held out his hand and shook the priest’s
hand. Moretti wasn’t a small man. He had the look of a wrestler.
The years had added pounds since he had been on the mat, though.
Still, that hand shake indicated that Father Moretti had sand. Sam
wouldn’t be surprised if Father Moretti worked in the trades when
he was younger, maybe as a bricklayer.

Lazarus motioned towards Sam, “Father
Moretti, this is my friend, Sam Diabo. Sam, this is Father Michael
Moretti.”

Moretti beamed at Sam. “Well, you’re
traveling in good company here, Sam.”

Sam smiled back at the Father, “Well, I don’t
know if he’s good company, but he accomplishes good things.”

Moretti laughed, “Ah well, I haven’t traveled
with him. I’ll have to rely on your word about that. I just know he
does good deeds.”

Sam nodded, “Yes he does.”

Lazarus waved it off, “Stop it, I’m gonna
blush if you two keep it up.”

Father Moretti smiled as he walked back to
his chair. He motioned to the two chairs in front of the desk.
Lazarus and Sam each took a seat.

“So, what can I help you with Eli? Knowing
you, I don’t think you came here just to say hello and chew the fat
with me. What ‘cha got going these days?”

“Well, Father, I was wondering if you could
do me a favor. You remember Joe Rignel?”

The smile on Moretti’s face disappeared, and
he became very serious. He motioned towards the door and mimicked
closing it. Sam stood up, crossed the office to close it, and sat
back down.

Father Moretti leaned in and spoke, “You
realize that I don’t really run in those circles anymore, right?
I’m not sure it would be a good thing for me to send you to some of
my old contacts. A lot of those boys are retired, or have been
retired
since I ran with them, if you get my meaning.”

Lazarus nodded, “Okay, I get that. Maybe I
can tell you what I need, and you can give me an indication of what
I need to do.”

Father Moretti nodded, and sat back, waiting
to hear what Lazarus was going to tell him.

Lazarus continued, “I have a situation. We
have a pickup truck, that is, unfortunately, way too noticeable. We
have to, ah, transport some things to the western part of the
country. Some of these things might be a problem if, say, the
police or feds decided to pull us over.”