Obsessions: A Monster Squad Novel 7 (28 page)

Mitchell nodded as he sipped his coffee. “But the Wyldwood thinks they can?”

Jack shrugged. “She claims that it was foretold. These are the chosen warriors, and I’m supposed to lead them into battle.”

“And you have your special weapons?”

“Angel weapons.” Jack hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “The big guy we brought back with us is a Nephilim. That’s the offspring of an angel and a human.”

“Yeah, I know what a Nephilim is.” Mitchell gave Jack a curious stare. “But I thought they were extinct. Old Testament legends.”

Jack shrugged again. “I guess there’s at least one angel that thought it was worth creating another kid.”

“And this Nephilim is working with you?”

“Our new right hand man. He’s stout as hell, pardon the pun. And he doesn’t know what fear is.”

Mitchell considered the creature they were going against. “Let’s hope he doesn’t learn it once he meets up with her.”

“Yeah, well I’m about to gather my troops and gear up. You think you can have a team standing by as backup? I know we don’t have any angelic weapons to arm them with, but I’d feel a lot better if I knew we had backup waiting.”

Mitchell nodded. “We have a couple of blips on the boards but if push comes to shove, I’ll divert a team to you. It sounds like this should be a priority anyway.”

“I appreciate it, Skipper.” Jack stood and turned for the door. “For the record…this is the first op I’ve ever gone on that I’ve actually been worried.”

*****

Dom pushed Chad McKenzie back away from the leader boards. “You’re staying here.”

Mac grew red in the face. “No, that’s bullshit! I’m still a member of this team. I deserve to—”

“You’ve been sidelined.” Dom pulled his pack up and slipped an arm into it. “Maybe sitting by the wayside will give you the chance to see how a
team
handles things.”

“You can’t do this.” Mac puffed up and stood between Dom and boards. “Major Tufo put me on this team and I…”

“I chose you for this team, and now I’m choosing to bench you until further notice.” Dom picked up his carbine and checked the optics. “When I see an improvement in your attitude and your ability to work and play well with others, then I’ll reconsider your position with my squad.”

“So what am I supposed to do until then?” Mac stepped back, his eyes pleading with Dominic.

“I don’t give a shit what you do.” He packed an extra magazine into his chest pouch then turned his attention back to the man. “If I were you, I’d work on my interpersonal skills.”

“This ain’t right.” Chad slowly walked back from the boards and pushed his way out the door.

Hammer slid in next to Dom and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Do you think you could have been a little gentler with him?”

Dom gave him a surprised look. “He’s a grown-ass man. He should be able to handle the truth.”

“Should be. But can’t.” Hammer shrugged. “I hope he doesn’t piss on your pillow while we’re gone.”

Dom shot a quick stare toward the closed door that Mac had slipped through. He slammed a magazine home and chambered a round. “I’ll kill him if he does.”

*****

Bigby sat in his office cleaning his weapons while Martinez and his men continued their construction of the mock-up. He continued to play things out in his mind. How things had gone terribly wrong for them since Sheridan had made it his own personal mission to bring down the Yanks. How he had screwed the pooch by bringing in the huge fuzzy.

Bigby threw the cleaning rod across the counter and gripped the top so hard that he feared his knuckles would break. He blew his breath out slowly and unclenched his jaw. He’d never been one to be judgmental or racist. But after having Apollo turn on them, he wished he could think of a worse thing to call him. He wished he could kill him over and over and over again.

He closed his eyes and replayed the moment his bullet shattered the thick plate of Apollo’s skull and sent the pink mist into the night air. He slowly allowed himself to relax as he replayed the moment. His only regret was that he didn’t have the monstrosity of a man chained down so that he could have taken his time with him and did him up proper-like with his blades. “Aye, mate, I would have enjoyed making you scream.”

“We’re about done with the first floor if you want to check it out.”

Bigby opened his eyes and saw Martinez standing in the doorway. “Why would I care?”

“I just…we’re about to start on the second floor.” He hooked his chin back out toward the warehouse.

“So get to it.” Big spun in his chair and slid his pistol off the bench. “I’ll look at it once you’re done.”

Martinez watched the man as he went through the motions of breaking down his weapon again. “Very well.” He disappeared back into the warehouse, leaving him to his thoughts.

Bigby stroked the cold metal of the weapon as he field stripped it by memory. “Your mates will soon be joining ya. I guaran-damn-tee you that.”

*****

“And I want to be there when the first of my troops strike.” Lilith planted her hands firmly on her hips. “I won’t take no for an answer. I need to watch as their great cathedrals are reduced to rubble.”

Samael closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “We cannot risk your being seen at any of the strikes.”

“He’s right.” Thorn stepped closer and pulled a cell phone from his pocket. “Surely you are familiar with these? Nearly every human these days carry the damnable things, and they all have video capability. They all can take pictures. If any of them happened to record the carnage, and you were in any of the frames, your plan goes up in smoke.” Thorn tapped a button which powered on his cell phone. He held it out to her and showed how simple it was to push an icon and the device instantly began recording. “You could just as easily have one of your troops record the action and transmit it to you at a safe location.”

Lilith’s bottom lip trembled with anger. “I
need
to witness the destruction of these interminable icons.”

Rufus nodded as he slipped the phone back into his pocket. “I understand completely. However, imagine if you can…all of the buildings being decimated and all of them being recorded live and fed to you here or some other safe place.” He slowly formed a smile as she considered his words.

“All of them?” she repeated cautiously. “At once?”

“
Oui
, all of them.” Rufus waved his arms and turned a slow circle. “With the technology they have today, you could watch it all live from one safe vantage.”

Samael stepped between the two and effectively cut Thorn out of the conversation. “We could set up our own…devices. That way we don’t sacrifice any of the Centurions for the cause. They all go as planned.”

Lilith paced slowly, her mind digesting the possibilities. She turned and gazed past Samael to the vampire behind him. “And how would we do this?”

Thorn shrugged absently. “Your people could purchase a disposable pre-paid phone, set it to record and transmit, set it in front of their target and then simply walk in and do their damage.” He gave her a winning smile. “It would be as easy as
une, deux, trois
.”

“And where should I observe this from?” She pushed past Samael and stood in front of Thorn, her eyes settling on him.

“From wherever you like, my dear. You could do it here in your own planning room, or if you prefer the security of a bunker, it could easily be set up there.”

“What would I need?” Her voice betrayed the urgency and excitement she felt, and Samael placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her. She barely recognized his touch as she pressed the vampire further. “If I were to follow through with this? What would we need to have?”

Thorn shook his head. “Forgive me, my lady, I am not that knowledgeable in the setting up of such things.” He watched her gaze darken and he thought quickly. “But I believe I know somebody who can.” He held his hand up to stay her outburst. With his other hand he pulled his cell phone from his pocket again. “Allow me a moment, if you please.”

Thorn turned his back to the pair and dialed the phone. He waited patiently until it was answered. “Rufus?”

“Ah, brother, I fear I need your assistance.”

“Are you okay? I feared you were dead. I have called Viktor and he—”

Thorn quickly cut him off lest Lilith or Samael overheard the conversation. “I need your assistance in setting up a video monitoring system. Something that cell phones can call in and send video to. Is that something you can help me with or would you need to bring in technical experts?”

The silence on the other end of the line told him that Paul was trying desperately to decipher any hidden code that Rufus may have used. “Let me see if I understand you correctly. You need me to bring you technical experts who have knowledge in setting up a video monitoring system that can be…what now?”

“A video monitoring system that can accept video from numerous cell phones at one time and play them all in real time.” Thorn glanced over his shoulder at Lilith and gave her a reassuring smile. He made a show of covering the phone, “If anybody can do this and do it correctly, it is my brother Paul.”

Lilith nodded slowly as she watched him. “Where would we do this, Mr. Thorn?”

“Wherever you prefer, my lady. You are already established here. I see no reason why we couldn’t set it up right here in this very room if you liked.”

She glanced to Samael who grunted and turned his back on the two of them. “Here would be acceptable.”

“We are at the facility where we trespassed. How soon do you think you could have a technical team ready and in place to install this?”

Paul cleared his throat and tried to think of appropriate questions to ask for such a task. “How many cell phones will be feeding the system at any given time?”

“Oh, I am not certain.” Rufus turned to Lilith. “He needs to know how many feeds will be incoming at any given time.”

Lilith shook her head, unsure. Samael turned and barked at him, “One thousand. We have one thousand Centurions and each have their own targets.”

“One…
thousand
?” Rufus repeated.

“A thousand? Are you fucking kidding me?” Paul nearly screeched through the phone. “I’m not the NSA!”

Thorn gave a wan smile to Lilith. “Apparently it is quite the tall order.”

“I don’t need to witness them all. I only want the biggest. Can he do one hundred?” Her eyes had widened and her teeth were bared as she stepped closer.

“One hundred then, Paul. Can you set up a system that can handle one hundred?” He shifted the phone to his other ear and stood where he could watch the crazed woman and listen at the same time.

“That’s still a pretty tall order.” He sighed heavily into the phone. “But yeah, it can be done. You do realize that even if we split it into ten feeds per monitor, she’s going to have ten wide screen monitors to try to keep up with.”

“Yes, we understand. Just so long as it can be done. What will it take?”

“A shitload of satellite dishes, diplexers, splitters, computers, stable power supplies, rolls of cable…manpower…lots and lots of manpower.” Foster paused as if catching his breath then added with a knowing tone, “Men who know what they’re doing.”

“Understood. Get the best men for the job.” He smiled again at Lilith and gave her a nod. “I promised the lady the performance of a lifetime.”

“The kind of manpower I’m talking about won’t be cheap, you know. I’m thinking probably…Viktor. Specialists like…well, you know, Jack Thompson. Or at least somebody as good as him.”

“Yes, of course. Only the absolute best.” Both men knew that they were on the same page once Jack’s name was mentioned.

“You know, I doubt I could get Jack on such short notice.” Paul’s voice was almost a whisper.

“I understand. Just get the best you can.” Rufus gave Lilith a wink. “She deserves it.”

*****

Robert Stevens checked back into his office long enough to grab a few things he had forgotten. He took one last look around and prepared to leave when his supervisor tapped on the wall nearly causing the small framed man to jump out of his skin. “Easy there, killer. Director Jameson wants to see you.”

Stevens nodded sheepishly and put his duffle down. He surely wasn’t dressed for a meeting with the director, but when called to Olympus, one did not simply ignore the call. He punched the number in the elevator and rode it up to the top floor.

Walking toward the director’s office, his administrative assistance barely looked up as he approached. “He’s waiting for you.” She reached under her desk and pressed the button unlocking the door.

Stevens took a deep breath just as he pushed the door open. “Sir? You wanted to…” His voice trailed off as he looked about the room. NSA Assistant Director Ingram sat opposite Director Jameson, as did two other men that Robert had never seen before.

“Have a seat.” Jameson didn’t look up from the report he was rifling through. “Can you explain this?”