Reign of Evil - 03 (19 page)

Laws didn’t even look to see how it was doing. He scrambled off the other hound and broken skeleton, found his footing, then took off for Yank. He was more than halfway there before a hound behind him let out a howl. He approached Yank at a dead run, then made a controlled skid as he reached down and grabbed the downed man’s collar. Laws hauled the deadweight down a hall and through a side door. He was just able to pull it closed when a weight slammed against it, slamming it shut.

Finally, out of breath, but safe behind the door, he was able to answer Holmes and check on Yank.

*   *   *

Walker and YaYa exchanged glances through the darkness. Both of them wished they were upstairs. They were close enough to hear the sound of battle and the cataclysmic crash of the Apatosaurus skeleton in real time. Then came the telltale howl of the hound.

So many questions ran through Walker’s mind, especially ones regarding the fate of his fellow SEALs, but his mission was to secure the stairwell.

The two SEALs were in charge of securing one of the two sets of stairs that could be used to enter the basement. Ian and Trevor held the other.

When Walker heard Laws’s hurried report to Holmes, he was pleased that the lanky second in command had made it, but was concerned for Yank. It took a moment for Laws to ascertain his status, but it appeared as if the newest member of the team was unconscious and there was nothing Laws could do to change that.

Walker was so engrossed listening to the play-by-play that he almost missed the attack, foreshadowed only by the sound of metal on granite. One glance at the grenade bouncing down the stairs made him switch his QUADEYE off.

“Flash bang!”

He closed his eyes and a moment later the universe exploded into white. As it faded, he switched his night vision back on. He could see YaYa shaking his head, clearly having missed or been unable to heed the warning. But that was the least of his concerns.

Boots rattled against marble as five men charged down the stairs.

Walker pegged three of them in the chest and one in the leg before he had to swing back around the corner. Return fire exploded wood and stone from the doorway he’d left. Unable to fire back, he tossed his own flash-bang grenade. When it went off, he slung himself back around the corner and to the floor, changing levels. He fired. Two men went down, but two others were pulling a wounded man back up the stairs.

YaYa jerked his QUADEYE free. He’d felt blind with it. At least now, he could operate in the gloom.

“Ghost One, this is Ghost Three. Five
beegees
tried to infil west staircase. One down. Four retreated.”

Walker was about to check on the downed man when he heard gunfire from the east staircase.

*   *   *

Ian and Trevor weren’t fucking around. They’d dangled a grenade from the upper stairwell, tied it off to the railing, and trailed a filament-thin line so they could quickly pull the greased pin … which they did as three men stormed down the stairs. Ian and Trevor twisted around the wall, putting several feet of marble between them and the blast.

One thousand one.

One thousand two.

One thousand three.

Kaboom!

One of the attackers was about to breach the doorway but was flung to the wall like a broken-backed toy by the explosion. When it came, it was like a dragon’s roar. Flame, pieces of meat and muscle, and thousands of granite and marble chips shot through the doorway. Whoever they were, they didn’t have time to scream or react, and the grenade had been too high to notice.

When the pieces stopped falling, both men stood and surveyed the stairs.

Trevor wiped soot from his face. “Bloody fucking hell.”

“Takes care of that.” Ian turned to the one who’d been slung free of the blast, intent on a quick interrogation. But one look at the exposed spine and the head spun halfway around told Ian there’d be no words coming from this gent.

“Demon One, this is Ghost One; report.”

Ian tapped Trevor on the shoulder and gestured toward the stairs. “Moving to flank.”

They stacked up the stairs, slipping a little on the pieces of the would-be attackers. When they hit the top, they got down and turned toward the Fossil Marine Reptile exhibit. Ian peered around the corner and spied five men in black, night-vision goggles, body armor, and black skullcaps preparing to descend. He raised his rifle, sighted in through the fixed optics, and put two rounds into the side of the nearest man’s head.

The reaction was instantaneous as the remaining four knelt and returned fire.

Ian ducked around the corner as rounds slammed into the concrete and granite. He pointed behind them where the restaurant was, indicating Trevor should move in that direction. Once he was moving, Ian pulled another grenade, made a silent apology to the Queen for blowing up even more of her museum, pulled the pin, then tossed it around the corner.

He barreled after Trevor, only to come up short as he watched what could only be one of those hounds making its way across the tops of the tables directly toward them.

“Back down!” Ian commanded.

They turned and crashed down the stairs, taking them three at a time. Halfway down they slipped on gore, falling hard to the marble-edged stairs. Their body armor took the brunt of the damage, but the air left them. Still, they were all that was left of Section 9 and by god Ian wasn’t going to allow them to go out as supernatural dog food.

He got to his feet first, then reached down for Trevor. He pushed the kid in front of him just as an immense weight plowed into his back, throwing him face-first to the ground.

*   *   *

Walker had made the stairs and was firing upwards, sending ricochets into the hall above. Ian and Trevor had countered the attack. He had no doubt they were going to stack down and take advantage of the second flash bang. That the Section 9 guys had drawn their fire had been a godsend. Now it was time to repay their effort.

He’d grabbed YaYa and they were about to move up the stairs when they heard Trevor’s scream over the net.

“It followed us down the stairs!”

One glance said Walker and YaYa were in tune. As one, they left the stairs and ran back into the basement. They peeled left and after several turns came upon the scene of the beast-like hound trying to chew through the back of Ian’s body armor.

Both Walker and YaYa opened fire. The momentum from the bullets punched the creature from Ian’s back but had no other effect.

“Fucking kidding me.” YaYa fired full auto until his HK was empty. He’d knocked the beast down, but even as he watched, it climbed to its feet and let free an arcane howl.

Another beast climbed down the stairs. The sight of its human arms as forelegs and hands gripping the marble sent chills down Walker’s back. He shook his head and backed away.

“One, this is Three; we have two hounds down here. The other staircase is open. Time to bug out, over.”

He heard two clicks and reached down slowly to haul Ian to his feet.

“Back away, gents. Let these critters do what they need to.”

While the new hound snarled at them, it made no move to attack.

The other hound turned and padded toward the other set of stairs. If they’d planned this right, it would turn left and head down to the lower level where they had the golem head. Walker’s and the rest of their jobs were over. They found a utility closet they’d prepared earlier, and backed inside.

Once the door was secure, he called the net. “All Ghosts, this is Ghost Three and Five and Demon One and Two. All secure.”

“All Ghosts, this is Ghost Two with Four. All secure.”

Walker was gratified to hear that Laws and Yank were okay. He waited for what seemed like a full minute before Holmes called in.

“All Ghosts, this is Ghost One and the Crone. All secure. Wait until you get the all clear, then rendezvous to site one.”

Walker let out a sigh of relief. They might be a little beat up, but their mission was a success. Now to see if they could track the head.

CHAPTER 29

CHICKSANDS RAF. MORNING.

Yank was the worst off. He’d sustained a concussion and had trouble coming to. There were no bruises or contusions, but he couldn’t explain what happened.

Sassy Moore’s migraine was so bad, she could barely open her eyes, brought on by the vicissitudes of astral combat. She claimed that she had fought and defended herself against no fewer than five warlocks. She held a long package to her chest that Laws was pretty certain she hadn’t had at the start of the mission.

Ian had two black eyes from where he face-planted on the ground.

With the exception of exhaustion and a few contusions from flying granite, the others were fine.

After conducting a three-hour surveillance detection route, including three changes of vehicles, they made it back to Chicksands. Ian got them through the gate, and they were soon pulling into the hangar and unloading their gear. The SEALs and men of Section 9 had already broken down their weapons and cleaned them. All they needed to do was add a light coat of oil and wipe the weapons down once more.

But that would have to wait.

They had company.

Hoover stood, head low, growling at a well-dressed hulk of a man standing between two bodyguards and with three more arrayed behind them. They each had enough goon genes in their DNA that they could have been related. The central man’s demeanor was anything but calm. His hands strangled invisible children while his face threatened to transition from red to purple.

“Do you realize the damage you did? You broke a dinosaur skeleton!”

Ian and Holmes exchanged glances. Ian turned to the man and sighed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“You don’t—” He seemed to get some control. “Hundreds of thousands of euros in damage and the loss of priceless artifacts. Do you realize that those bones were given to Queen Victoria by the Crown Prince of Prussia?”

“Must have been someone else, Sir Robert.” Ian turned to head toward the back of the hangar.

“Don’t turn your back on me.”

Two of his men drew Glock pistols from shoulder holsters.

They shouldn’t have.

The SEALs brought their rifles up at once and began to create separation between themselves and their targets. Trevor paused a moment, then joined them.

Soon all five goons had pistols trained on the SEALs and stepped in front of the man Ian had called Sir Robert. The SEALs had realized he must have been the Member of Parliament Ian had told them about.

It might have remained a standoff, but they forgot to account for Genie during the fracas. Laws watched stone-faced as he came up behind the MP and placed a pistol barrel to the side of his head.

“Drop your weapons or the white guy gets it!”

The goons stepped aside and stared at the African-American squid with a gun to their boss’s head.

“We’re all white, asshole,” said Sir Robert. “Now let me go.”

“Maybe that’s your problem. You had a brother with you, he’d have watched your back.”

Trevor and Walker collected the guards’ weapons and tossed them into the back of their SUV.

Holmes came up and placed a hand on Genie’s shoulder. “You can let the man go, now.”

Genaro Stewart snapped his wrist back and stepped away until he was standing by Laws.

Laws grinned. “The white guy gets it? Did you really say that?”

Genie shrugged. “I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Got their attention, didn’t it?”

Laws laughed. Moments like this were why he loved being a SEAL. “It sure did, man. It sure as hell did.”

Sir Robert snarled at his men and whirled on Holmes. “So this is SEAL Team 666.”

Holmes remained silent.

“Are you going to deny it?”

Holmes smiled grimly. “You don’t have the need to know.”

“Need to know? Do you know who you’re talking to?”

Holmes merely stared at the angry MP, letting the moment draw out until it was Sir Robert who broke it.

He spit on the floor. “You Americans think you can throw your weight around anywhere you want. You wouldn’t be anywhere if it weren’t for—”

Laws couldn’t help himself. “—an Italian discovering North America, a German monk creating the Protestant Reformation, and a handful of dissidents you didn’t want along with a bunch of profiteers who wanted to rape the land? Is that what you were going to say?”

But he knew the response he’d get. So when Sir Robert spun in Laws’s direction, he beamed his very best smile.

Before the British MP could faint from apoplexy, Ian interrupted. “Sir Robert, was there a reason for this visit?”

The MP was sweating from anger. “Just keeping my eye on you. And If I find out you were involved at all in that cock and bull at the museum, I’m going to have your ass.”

Trevor stepped forward, lowering the point of his rifle as he did. “Did you see anything on the cameras?”

“I’m told there was some sort of disturbance.”

“A lot of that going around lately,” Laws said.

Sir Robert pointed a shaking finger at all of them. “Watch yourselves.”

Ian simply nodded. “Yes, Sir Robert.”

The MP glanced around. When his eyes lit on Laws, he shook his head. “Bloody walking talking Wikipedia entry.” Then he turned with his men close on his heels. As they passed, one looked imploringly at Yank, who stood by the rear of the SUV where their guns were held.

He shook his head once, firm. “I don’t think so.”

The goon frowned and hurried to catch up to the rest of the retinue.

The SEALs and Section 9 watched them until they entered the parking lot and climbed into two sedans.

Trevor plopped down on one of the couches. “Big coincidence he showed up right after the operation.”

“Wasn’t a coincidence.” Ian turned to Preeti, who’d remained sitting and out of the way the entire time. “Did he see our prisoner?”

She nodded. “They tried to get into the room, but Genie here wouldn’t let them.”

All eyes turned to the big Navy chief, who, apparently unused to the attention, lowered his eyes and blushed.