Read The Demon Deception Online
Authors: Mark Harritt
Tags: #adventure angels demons romance, #militarysci fi, #adventure and mystery, #adventure and magic, #adventure and fantasy, #military hero demon fighter, #adventure and betrayal, #adventure action fantasy, #military dark fantasy, #adventure fantasy sword magic
Three seconds later, a hole ripped through
the gas tank, the sound of tearing metal closely followed by the
sound of a single gunshot, a .338 Lapua bullet exploding from the
muzzle of a Desert Tactical Stealth Recon Scout. The sound of the
gunshot echoed around the inside of the mine. With that shot, the
motorcycle gang knew who was in charge. It wasn’t Skull.
Third loss of the day for Skull. He lost the
respect of his men right at that moment. They would follow his lead
for the day, but after this, there was a bull’s eye painted on his
back. Skull growled. He pulled a combat knife from inside his
jacket and rushed Lazarus. Skull’s days were numbered, but he was
going to take someone with him. He charged, and changed at the same
time.
The knife slashed, and Lazarus swayed, the
movement subtle, just enough for the knife to miss. The knife
ripped through the air, but didn’t connect. The muzzle of the
human-wolf hybrid bit down where Lazarus’ shoulder should be, but
Lazarus shifted again, and the bite didn’t connect. Lazarus knew
all the moves that this lycan could throw at him, and knew the
counter for every one of them. Two thousand years of muscle memory
can’t be fooled. Lazarus countered with a short punch, delivered
with his feet firmly planted, the force driving up through his
hips, back and shoulders. The lycan was knocked back, ribs
shattering beneath the force of the blow.
“Down boy. I don’t think your master wants
you off the leash just yet.”
Lilith looked over at the lycan, losing
interest, “Yes, Skull, I need them alive. You can stop now.”
Skull was pissed, and didn’t like taking
orders from a skirt. Skull stood up, “Who the hell are you to tell
me what I can and can’t do?” His left arm was up, to put pressure
on the two broken ribs. He winced as he moved, something his pack
surely noticed. Hellfire flared to fix the wound.
Lilith turned, and walked over to Skull. Her
hand darted forward, re-breaking the ribs. She grabbed them, and
twisted, “I’m your master, cur, and don’t you ever forget it.”
Fresh waves of pain made Skull gasp. He fell
down to his knees. Lazarus smiled. Skull wasn’t having a very good
day. Lazarus heard a faint beeping. He pulled out a blue tooth ear
piece. The ear piece was talk and listen technology. It was used to
talk through the military grade radio that Lazarus had in his coat
pocket, “Yeah, what’s up?”
On top of the pit, Major Susan Hartman was on
the rim opposite the Copper Queen visitor center where Lazarus and
his entourage had entered. Eight of the world’s finest long range
shooters were with her. Five were from the US military, two Force
Recon Marines, one Navy SEAL, one from Special Forces, and an Army
Ranger. There was a female soldier from the Israeli defense force,
and two German Fallschirmjäger. Not all of them were snipers, or
even sniper trained, but they all could drive a nail at 1400
yards.
Susan Hartman had done well since that night,
long ago, in Afghanistan. She had gone to Officer Candidate School,
and become a commissioned officer. She asked for, and got a branch
assignment to Intelligence. Now, she was stationed at the home of
the Army Intelligence School, Fort Huachuca. Major Hartman had
grown from a young, inexperienced girl to a steely eyed dealer of
long distance death. She was pretty good in close as well, with
either knife or pistol.
She had gotten a call twelve days ago. She
had gone to a warehouse in Nogales, Arizona, and claimed nine
rifles chambered in .338 Lapua. Soon after that, she went on two
weeks of leave, and spent a lot of time at the range getting used
to the new weapon. A shooter that did a lot of long range
competitions for the Army team, she loved the rifle. It was a
marvel to shoot. The others on her team arrived within a week after
the phone call.
Lazarus heard a voice in his ear, “Good
morning Susan, how are you?”
“Covering your ass, as usual.”
“Believe me when I tell you, I am very glad
that you’re staring at my ass through your ‘scope right now.”
Major Hartman heard one of the Germans
snigger at Lazarus’ joke. She spoke again, to give Lazarus a
situation report, “I just wanted to give you a head’s up. You have
six government, black Humvees filled with what looks like
government agents headed your way. Oh, and Franz thinks you have a
very nice ass.”
Lazarus laughed, “Okay, looks like we have
company.”
“You need us to put anybody down?”
Lazarus chuckled, “My, my, Susan. A little
blood thirsty today, are we?”
“Against what you’re facing, yes I am. When
do I have free reign to take down the bad guys.”
“Not just yet. No major problems right now.
Just watch our backs, make sure nobody tries to slip something into
them. Oh, and if anything demonic looking appears out of thin air,
you have my permission to engage. If you see people in a vest like
mine, make sure they stay safe.”
“Roger, WILCO.”
Lilith looked over at Lazarus, “What are you
laughing at, Eli?”
Lazarus pointed up towards the rim of the
mine. Everybody that wasn’t busy looked up. They could see the
cloud of dust, but they couldn’t see the vehicles yet. He looked
over at Lilith, “Looks like your boy Mephistopheles couldn’t stay
away.”
The look in Lilith’s eyes spoke volumes.
Lazarus didn’t envy Mephistopheles when he arrived. He turned and
motioned for Sam to go to the back of the van. They walked back,
with Darcy tagging along like a lost child. Sam opened the back of
the van, and Lazarus took off his leather coat, and threw it into
the back. He still had his pistol on his belt.
Sam reached in and pulled out a vest that had
additional rifle and pistol magazines in pouches, shotgun shells in
loupes, and a knife strapped on it. There were armored plates in
the vests as well, on the front and back. Lazarus took the vest,
pulled the Velcro apart, and then slipped it over his head. He
pulled his shotgun out, and put the carrying strap over his head,
securing it so that the shotgun draped down the back of the vest.
He grabbed the radio from the jacket and put that into a pouch. He
walked around the side of the van, pulled the twins out and
strapped them around his waist. He was ready for war.
Sam was doing the same thing. When he was
finished putting on the vest, he began setting up the other weapons
systems, the M60s and the rocket launchers. When he was done with
that, he opened a container that had Lazarus’ special hand grenades
in it. Lazarus grabbed two, and put them in pouches on the vest
designed to hold them.
Lazarus turned to Darcy. She looked
completely out of her league. Lazarus really wished the young woman
wasn’t here. He couldn’t do anything about that now, though. He
motioned her over. When she walked up, he pulled out a ballistic
vest that had nothing strapped to it. It was Darcy’s size. It had
the SAPI armor plates in it, but there was nothing that could be
construed as a weapon on it.
Darcy shook her head, however, “I don’t want
to wear that.”
He patted her on the arm, “Please, just wear
it for me. I’ll feel better knowing that you have it on and are
protected by it. It doesn’t have any bullets, or knives, or
anything else on it. It will just give you some protection in case
something happens. Plus, the shooters on the ridge know that if
you’re wearing this, you’re one of the good guys.”
She didn’t look convinced. She took the vest
from him and her arms dropped as she took the weight. Lazarus saw
alarm in her eyes.
“Don’t worry, love. Once you have it on, it
distributes the weight evenly. It won’t feel near as bad as you
think.”
She hesitated, and Lazarus thought that she
would refuse, but then she nodded. He helped her put on the vest.
Once it was on, he had her shrug, and jump up and down. Once she
was satisfied that she was comfortable, he yelled over to Lilith,
“Hey, I have a vest for you as well. And a rifle if you want
it.”
“Sounds like fun. Do you think it will match
my outfit?” she asked.
He looked at the blue jeans, t-shirt, Doc
Martins, and leather jacket, “Blue jeans match everything. Plus,
it’s in Multicam, which is very stylish right now.”
She paraded over, and Lazarus helped her put
it on, not that he thought she needed help. Lilith held her arms up
and wiggled as Lazarus helped to put the vest on. Lazarus lifted
the vest over her head, and she arched her back. Her breasts rubbed
against his arm as he fit the vest. She used the occasion to brush
up against him, and to bend and twist so that all the men around
could admire her form. Lazarus couldn’t deny that he enjoyed having
her close to him. He could smell her shampoo, the smell of
strawberries tickling his nose. His pulse increased
dramatically.
A voice sounded in his ear. Major Hartman
spoke, “You look like you’re enjoying that way too much, Eli. You
need to get your head out of the clouds. Look lively, your visitors
will be down to you in about ten minutes.”
“Roger,” Lazarus replied. Lazarus stepped
back from the van and looked up. The convoy of government vehicles
was navigating the switchbacks. Blue and red police lights strobed
as the convoy proceeded. Clouds of dust followed the Humvees,
creating a low, brown haze that settled across the terrain. Lazarus
wondered what government agency Mephistopheles was going to parade
next. Probably FBI or DEA. Lazarus thought that Les was probably
out of ATF agents.
Sam had everything laid out, the weapons and
the munitions, in the back of the van. He had missiles to one side,
and machineguns to the other. He had boxes of munitions open for
use, and arranged so that every caliber was available without too
much digging. Sam stood back, and admired his handy work. Lazarus
looked in, “So, where’s the reloads for the shotgun, rifle and
pistol?”
Sam pointed out where all the different
calibers where. Lazarus noticed that the M60 machineguns had the
boxes of ammunition attached to the side of the machinegun, but the
bullets hadn’t been laid in the tray yet. Lazarus pointed this
out.
“Eli, it takes maybe five seconds to lay the
first bullet in the tray, and close the lid. I think we’ll have
plenty of time to get that task accomplished. If we don’t, it’s all
over with anyway.”
The black Humvees were on the last stretch of
the road. Drama was the word for this display. The black Humvees
had FBI in big yellow stencil on the side of the doors. The first
Humvee slid to a stop next to the van, and the dust cloud enveloped
the crowd. A tall, slim man, who Lazarus assumed was an FBI agent,
stepped out and walked to the back of the vehicle. He opened the
door, and Mephistopheles stepped out.
The first thing out of the door was
Mephistopheles’ hand, held in a delicate, gentle,
effeminate
gesture. The agent took
the proffered hand, and helped Mephistopheles step out of the
Humvee. Mephistopheles’ foot touched the ground, and that seemed to
be the signal for everybody else to get out. The other Humvees
opened, and four to five agents stepped out of each. They were
dressed in black battle dress, with ballistic vests that said,
‘FBI,’ in bold yellow lettering. They were wearing ballistic
helmets.
Mephistopheles patted the FBI agent on the
chest with his other hand. The FBI endured the familiarity with
stoicism. Mephistopheles let go of the hand, and took a moment to
brush his suit, and straighten his tie. The suit was Brooks
Brothers, dark navy blue, white shirt and lavender tie. He ran his
hands along the side of his head to ensure that no hair was out of
place, then he stroked his goatee to make sure it was perfect as
well. He turned and walked towards the van. As he walked, he
pinched non-existent lint from his suit.
He walked over to Lilith and stopped at arm’s
length. He placed hand on hip, and spoke.
“Lilith, you need to stop what you’re doing
right now.”
Lilith tilted her head, and looked up towards
the sky as if she were contemplating her options. Then she shook
her head, and stared intently at him, “No, I don’t think I will. I
have a lot to do today.”
Lazarus could tell that Mephistopheles wasn’t
used to hearing the word ‘no’. Mephistopheles glared at Lilith,
trying for a semblance of authority, but he wasn’t able to pull it
off. He could do haughty, vain, or self-absorbed, but his authority
glare wasn’t effective at all. He just managed to look bitchy. He
jabbed his finger towards her, “Look here!”
Lilith turned on him, “No, you look here,
underling!”
It went downhill rapidly from there. Words
like bimbo, tramp, slut, whore, plus some more lively curses and
descriptions were thrown around, in several languages, modern and
ancient. They hurled the insults back and forth like they were
throwing knives. Lazarus was beginning to think he was going to see
a demonic slap fight next. The two were right up in each other’s
faces. Lilith’s biker gang was staring at the FBI, and
Mephistopheles’ FBI was staring right back.
Small things could lead to dangerous
situations in the heat of the moment. The potential for a free for
all between the bikers and FBI was increasing rapidly. If that
happened, they would kill each other, the aliens from another
dimension be damned. Lazarus didn’t relish the idea of being caught
in the crossfire of two different sets of possessed minions.
He put his fingers in his mouth, and
whistled. It was a whistle that had been perfected over two
thousand years. It was sharp, loud, and lasted a good long time.
Everybody put their hands over their ears. Sam thought he was going
to have blood gushing out if Lazarus didn’t stop soon.
When Lazarus had everybody’s attention, he
said, “Ladies, you two can get back to your cat fight later. But
right now, I’m working here. So, get your heads right, or get the
hell out of here.”