Blood Cult (24 page)

The patrol car
pulled up fifty yards away from the small military camp. It was a pitiful
sight, a small selection of vehicles and a couple of tents, maybe a dozen men
at most.

‘That mounted machinegun would sure come in handy, and the armoured car,’
stated Shane.

‘That’s just what I was thinking,’ I replied as one of the soldiers made
an appearance, striding towards us wearing a cap and showing little sign of sickness.

I wound down my window and donned a smile. ‘Good afternoon, Captain.’

‘Lieutenant. Lieutenant Carter,’ he responded without friendliness. ‘I’m
going to have to ask you and your people to move on.’

‘Move on? You seem to be blocking our way, Lieutenant.’

‘Take your vehicles up the off ramp, over the bridge and come back down
on the southern side. Then head back south.’

I shook my head. ‘That’s not an option.’

‘Then feel free to join the encampment and wait it out.’

‘That’s not an option either.’

‘Well, there ain’t no others.’

‘Sure there is.’

Shane quickly stepped out of the car and pointed the rifle at the
Lieutenant’s head. Wade climbed out of the other patrol car, quickly moving
around the hood and taking charge of the soldier, shotgun barrel placed into
the small of his back.

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’ The statement issued from the small
military camp.

I turned to the netting strung between the two covered trucks on the
central reservation, able to make out a soldier beyond and the barrel of an
automatic poking through the camouflage. Movement to the left caught my eye and
I saw another soldier quickly climbing onto the truck where the gun was
mounted, taking up position behind the weapon and readying himself to fire.

‘By now there are at least ten guns trained on you and, as you can see,
I’ve got one much bigger than anything you’ve got,’ stated Carter coolly.

I scanned the vehicles and spied two more soldiers beneath one of the
covered trucks, their M16s at the ready. ‘I count four,’ I responded. ‘Just how
many of you are there, Lieutenant?’

‘Too many for you to handle.’

I grinned and tucked my hand inside my robes, stroking the playing card.
I knew a bluff when I saw one and also knew I had a winning hand. Even if there
were a couple of dozen troops hidden behind the vehicles, I had over one
thousand at my beck and call.

‘Wade, move him in front of the hood.’

Wade nudged the Lieutenant in the back with the shotgun and did as
instructed as I climbed out of the patrol car and walked into clear view
between the two police vehicles. I raised my hands in the air, still only able
to see four soldiers.

‘Any of you fire a shot and you’ll all die,’ I stated. ‘Just look behind
me to see the truth of this.’ I waved back at the convoy stretching all the way
to the bridge half a mile south and beyond.

‘I am a man of God and a man of my word. If you let is pass, none of you’ll
be harmed.’

‘And the Lieutenant?’ called the man behind the netting.

‘He’ll be freed as soon as we’re safely through. All we want is to
continue our journey north.’

‘Let them through,’ called Carter.

I turned to him in surprise before quickly regaining my composure. I
hadn’t expected it to be so easy and knew there was something being held back.

‘Are you sure, L.T.?’

I stepped back to the open driver’s door.

Carter nodded. ‘No one’s going to be a winner if this turns into a
fire-fight.’

‘But you said we weren’t to let anyone through no matter what.’

I ducked into the car and took the handset from where it was clipped to
the dash, turning to look at the Chief as he sat on the back seat. ‘Can you
contact your men in the other patrol cars on this?’

‘Let them through. And that’s an order, Private Turner,’ said the
Lieutenant outside.

‘Yes, Sir.’

Brody gave a nod in response as he leant forward and took the handset,
its wound cord stretching. ‘As long as they’ve got theirs on.’

‘Tell them to get everyone who’s armed onto one of the coaches. When they
pass through the unit’s camp, they’re to take them all down. Got that?’

‘But they’re the U.S. army,’ he protested.

‘There’s no U.S. army anymore. There’s no U.S. There’s only us and them,
life and death.’

He looked at me dubiously as I heard the sound of engines grumbling into
life, the armoured car that rested on the northbound being moved aside.

‘Look, they’re keeping something from us, okay. They’re not what they
seem, so please just do what I fucking ask.’

‘Okay, okay,’ he replied, lifting the handset to his mouth.

I backed out of the doorway and straightened as I turned to find the armoured
car parking up on the grass between the highway and the off ramp. A small
cluster of tents had been revealed on the central reservation, a couple of them
large and their sides rippling in the growing breeze that was drawing smoke up
the road from the campfires.

Private Turner stood in front of the netting behind which he’d been
concealed, M16 held against his body. ‘Come on through,’ he said with a wave.

‘Wade, take the Lieutenant in the back of your patrol car. One false move
and you know what to do.’

‘You heard the man,’ he said, pushing Carter in the back and walking him
to the far side of the car as David watched from within.

‘Hey! You’re supposed to be letting the L.T. go.’

‘Not until we’re safely through. That was the deal,’ I called back to the
trooper. ‘Once my people have made their way by then he’ll be released.’

Turner frowned, but voiced no protest as he watched his commanding
officer climb into the back of the second patrol car. I got into the passenger
seat of the first and shut the door, Shane shifting into first and beginning to
slowly pull away.

‘Did you manage to get hold of them?’ I asked without turning, keeping my
lip movements to a minimum as Turner watched us pass.

‘Yeah,’ said Brody from the back.

‘Good,’ I replied with a vague nod. ‘Keep it slow, Shane. Give them time
to get things sorted back there.’

He kept the speed slow as the vehicles behind began to follow on. We
pushed through the bollards in the road, making our way around the large sign
standing in the middle lane.

I glanced over at the other car, seeing Carter on the near side of the
rear seat, Wade staring at him with his gun held at the ready. Once his men
were dealt with I wanted to have a word with the Lieutenant, sure he was hiding
something from me.

I looked in the wing mirror to see the progress of the convoy as we
passed beneath the bridge. Still barely a quarter of the vehicles had passed by
the army unit and it would be some time before the coach reached their camp.

‘Pull over to the side of the road and let the rest of them pass,’ I
instructed, winding down my window and waving to David.

He lowered the driver’s window and looked over questioningly.

‘Pull over,’ I stated.

He gave a nod and stopped beside the verge, Shane parking up in front of
him. I climbed out and waved Clive and Neil on. They continued up the highway
and I stared down the long line of traffic, my stomach tight with expectancy.
Time seemed to slow as I craned my neck, trying to see beyond the obstruction
of the bridge supports as the convoy continued to move by at a crawl.

‘Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to
everyone according to what he has done,’ I quoted, feeling the glory of the
Lord upon me.

Gunfire erupted down the highway, echoing under the bridge with the sound
of breaking glass as members of my flock fired out of the coach. It lasted
thirty seconds and then silence drew in as the convoy came to a halt.

There was sudden movement in David’s patrol car and I quickly turned.
Wade was struggling with the Lieutenant on the back seat, Carter having grabbed
the barrel of the shotgun during the distraction.

I hurried to the rear driver’s side, drawing the pistol from inside my
vestments. Grabbing the handle, I flung the door open, grabbing the
Lieutenant’s collar and putting the barrel to the back of his head.

‘Release the fucking gun or the next thing you feel will also be the
last.’

He hesitated and then let go of the shotgun, raising his hands in the
air.

‘All your men are dead, and unless you want to join them, you’ll tell me
what the fuck it is you’re holding back.’

‘What kind of preacher are you?’ he hissed over his shoulder.

‘The blood and thunder kind. Now answer my fucking question,’ I stated,
feeling energised by my victory.

‘There’s tanks at the border,’ he stated.

David looked at me through the driver’s window in alarm.

‘How many?’

‘Two, along with an assortment of other military vehicles.’

‘How many troops?’

He shrugged. ‘Maybe a couple of hundred.’

‘We can’t go head to head with tanks,’ said David.

I flashed him a hard look. ‘Anything else I should know?’

Carter shook his head.

I pushed the barrel hard against the back of his head. ‘You absolutely
sure about that?’

He gave a nod. ‘Now shoot me, seeing as that’s what you were planning on
doing anyway.’

‘Okay.’

I pulled the trigger. Wade was sprayed with blood and bits of flesh and
bone, the bullet passing through the Lieutenant’s head and embedding in the
back of the passenger seat beyond.

Wade let out a laugh. ‘You should have seen his face,’ he stated, ‘when
he still had one, that is. I don’t think he actually thought you’d pull the
trigger.’ He picked a piece of bone from his hair and flicked it out of the
door beside me.

David opened the driver’s door and took deep breaths after glancing in
the rear-view, trying to settle his stomach.

‘Oh come on, bro, don’t pussy out on me like that,’ said Wade with a
grin.

I released Carter’s collar and his corpse tumbled out of the car,
thumping onto the road. Wade followed it out, taking the body by the arms and
dragging it round the trunk to dump it on the verge.

‘Let’s go and see what’s going on back there,’ I stated as Shane joined
us, glancing at the backseat of the patrol car and seeing the gore sprayed over
the interior.

‘Looks like he spilled all he was going to spill and then some,’ he
commented before turning to me. ‘The Chief got word that they took them all out
without the troops letting off a single shot. Took them totally by surprise.’

‘No casualties on our side?’

Shane shook his head. ‘Not a one.’

‘The Lord protects his chosen.’ I grinned to myself, pulling the Ace of
Spades from my robes and turning it between my fingers.

‘Wade, you and your brother go and check out if what the Lieutenant said
is true, and be sure to keep a low profile. We don’t want them forewarned.
Shane, you’re with me,’ I said over my shoulder as I set off down the road.

I looked out
through the Range Rover’s windshield as numerous gunshots sounded along the
road to the north. A blue and white coach towards the rear of the convoy was
parked alongside the army unit’s camp. Small flashes of light indicated that
the shots were being fired from the vehicle, glass glinting dully on the
asphalt beside it after the panes had been shattered by the gunfire from within.

‘What the hell?’ said Stormy.

‘What’s happening, Mommy?’ asked Chrissie, gripping the side of my seat
and pulling herself forward.

The sounds suddenly came to an end.

I glanced at Stormy and she shrugged.

Turning back, I saw people getting out of the vehicles parked on the
verges, others rising from where they’d been sitting by campfires and all
staring up the road. Some moved out onto the highway, slowly edging forward as
they tried to make out what had happened.

‘I think maybe it’s time we hit the road,’ stated Stormy.

‘Wait,’ I said, looking at the coach and the military vehicles to either
side.

‘If there’s about to be a fire fight, I’d prefer if we weren’t anywhere
near it.’

‘I think it’s already over,’ I replied, watching as people began to exit
the coach, guns held at the ready. A few made their way over to the armoured
car, the others running around to the tents and remaining vehicles on the far
side.

‘I don’t like this, Mom,’ said Jasmine.

‘Neither do I.’ She turned to me. ‘Come on, Leah, let’s get the hell out
of here before this turns ugly.’

I shook my head. ‘Don’t you get it? They’re heading north. If they can
take out a unit of soldiers that easily, maybe they’ve got a chance of breaking
through at the border. We can make our way through afterwards.’

‘Guns against a ragtag squad of troops is one thing, guns against tanks
is another altogether.’

‘Where’s the harm in waiting?’

‘There could be plenty of harm,’ she responded. ‘I’ve got a really bad
feeling about this.’

‘So have I,’ concurred Jasmine.

‘Can I talk to you outside a second?’

Stormy looked at me curiously and nodded.

We climbed out of the car and I made sure to shut my door before moving
round to the trunk, the SUV offering some cover should more gunfire erupt along
the road. She moved round to join me, waiting for me to voice whatever it was
that was on my mind.

‘It’s Chrissie,’ I said quietly, noting that both girls were glancing
back at us.

‘What about her?’

‘She hasn’t got much time, certainly not enough to get to Newfoundland.
If there’s even the slimmest chance we can make it to Montreal, then I need to
try.’

‘Didn’t you say they’d run out of meds?’

I signed and nodded. ‘But maybe there’s something they can do or maybe
the trooper was lying.’

‘And why would he do that?’ she asked incredulously.

‘To stop anyone trying to get through. Who’s going to go up against armed
troops if there’s no hope of help in Montreal?’

‘If that’s true, then it sure as hell didn’t work.’ She glanced north as
more people from the roadside encampment began to tentatively make their way
towards the tail end of the convoy.

‘My point is, maybe it wasn’t true. Don’t you want to find out for
yourself?’

‘I can safely say “no” to that one.’

‘Please, Stormy, let’s just hold on a little longer for Chrissie’s sake,
just to see if the way north becomes clear?’ I held her gaze.

‘You’re pretty good with them puppy-dog eyes,’ she said with a shake of
her head and a thin smile. ‘Okay, a little longer, but when it starts to get
dark, we’re heading off. Whether you come with us or not is up to you.’

I nodded. ‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t thank me until we’re safely away from here, whichever direction we
end up going.’ She looked back along the road. ‘Should one of us go and take a
look?’

‘It should be me,’ I replied. ‘I’m the one insisting that we stay.’

‘You won’t hear any argument from me.’

‘Okay. I’ll just talk to Chrissie first and then head on up and find out
what’s going on.’

We made out way back along the sides of the car and climbed in.

‘Are we going?’ asked Jasmine, her head immediately appearing between the
front seats and clearly eager to be away.

‘Not yet.’

‘But we can’t stay here.’

‘We’re only staying a little longer,’ said Stormy. ‘Leah’s going to check
out the situation ahead and when she gets back we’ll be hitting the road.’

Jasmine frowned, sitting back abruptly and crossing her arms over her
chest as she stared out of the window at the fields alongside the highway and
pouted.

‘How you doing, Honey?’ I looked at Chrissie in the mirror.

She was barely able to lift her lids as she looked back at me. ‘I don’t
feel good.’

‘I’ll get you some more tablets.’

‘They don’t do anything.’

‘You can have extra this time, maybe that’ll help.’ I tried to smile, but
the expression was clearly forced, the strain evident in my face.

‘I’ll just dig out the tablets from the bags in the trunk and then I’ll
be on my way,’ I said to Stormy.

She nodded and I got back out, moving round to the rear. I glanced along
the road as I opened the trunk, a large crowd gathering around the end of the
convoy. I felt a touch of nervousness as I unzipped the side pocket of the
carryall, hoping that somehow the preacher and his followers would clear a way
through and we’d be in Montreal before too long, for Chrissie’s sake if not for
mine.