'Til Death Do Us Part (51 page)

“
Bring him to me,
”
Eliza said
,
seemingly bored with the proceedings.

Kong had been attempting to shield Horatio
. H
is ploy was only going to get him so far.
“
Eliza, my mistress, Horatio is a good driver and they
’
re hard to find right now.
”

“
I merely wi
sh to ask him a question or two,
”
Eliza replied.

Eliza
was not that good of an actress.
Kong knew the lie for what it was.
He
motioned for the men that had been caring for Horatio to bring him forward.

Horatio shuffled forward;
he had never met Eliza
,
but he knew enough about her to be concerned.
His eyes had already blackened and
his jaw had puffed to nearly double its size giving him a cartoonish appearance. 

Horatio had planned to stay strong
,
but one look at his employer and he had dropped his head.

Eliza reached out and grabbed his shattered jaw in her hand. Kong made as
if to move and help the driver,
then thought better of it as Eliza turned a questioning gaze on him. He wisely placed his hands down by his sides. Horatio was screaming in pain, as much as a man with a broken jaw can.

Tears rippled down his face and coated Eliza
’
s hand, yet she did not yield her prize.
“
What did the man that did this to you look like?
”
s
he asked softly.

“
Mmmfff...
”
Horatio sobbed.

“
Mistress
,
he cannot speak.
”
He almost added
‘
with your hand clamped over his face
’
but
decide
d to leave that part to the way
side.

“
Perhaps
you should get a pen and paper,
”
Tomas added.

Kong motioned for one of his men to get them. Eliza did not let go until the man returned some moments later. Horatio had to be held up as he nearly collapsed to his knees. His color took on the hue of old
,
yellowed parchment paper.

“
Write quickly,
”
Tomas prodded a
s Horatio tried to gather himself up and move past the majority of the pain.

‘
I
’
m sorry.
’
Horatio scribbled quickly, a child cresting on Red Bull would have written with less jitter.

Kong watched as the cold in Eliza
’
s eyes turned to heat.
“
Description
, Horatio.
What
did the man look like?
”
h
e asked his driver.

‘
Medium build....strong...shorts, tight shirt. Skin was pinkish like he
’
d been burned. Patchy facial hair, missing an eyebrow.
’
He wrote diligently. He pushed the pain a little further back.
‘
Tin foil hat.
’

Tomas laughed at the last part.

“
Something funny
,
brother?
”
Eliza asked.

“
Michael Talbot is alive and apparently well
,
sister.
”

“
HOW COULD HE KNOW?
”
s
he screamed.
“
He stops here and
takes the most important truck…
how could he know?
”

“
Do you still doubt divine intervention?
”
Tomas asked.

Kong had doubted his alliance with Eliza from the first day
,
and now
,
if the other side was the one God favored, he had chosen poorly.

“
This changes nothing!
”
s
he
raged
.

“
This changes everything,
”
Tomas replied.

“
Mistress?
”
Kong asked.

“
I want the trucks ready to leave within
the next three days
,
”
s
he said turning to walk off.

He would lose a good ten percent of his fleet due to maintenance issues if they left that soon
,
but he would not cross Eliza.
“
And what of Horatio?
”
No soone
r had he asked the question than
he wished
that
he could retract
it
. She would have forgotten if he had just left it alone. Tomas bowed his head for a fraction of a second.

Eliza spun back.
“
No truck, no need for a driver,
”
s
he said as
she again gripped his jaw.

She
clenched her hand tight until Horatio
’
s teeth started to pop from his mouth. The bones in his jaw liquefied as she ground them together. Horatio had long since passed out as she made sure nothing structurally was left on the bottom part of his mouth. When she let go
,
he fell to the ground heavily. Kong had to turn
away;
the sight of Horatio
’
s caved-in face was not something he would soon forget.

There was a widening circle around Eliza, Tomas, Kong
, and the dying Horatio.
Those
that had been curious
as to how it would all play out
now wanted nothing to do with it.

“
Do not fail me again,
”
Eliza said to Kong.

He nodded.

Eliza and Tomas were heading back towards their car.

“
The tinfoil is ingenious, don
’
t you think?
”
Tomas asked
,
goading his sister.

“
Why will he not die
,
Tomas? You know him better than I.
”

“
I have known for a long time
,
sister
,
the man
’
s importance
in this battle. I cannot begin to understand God
’
s design.
”
For the first time
,
Tomas thought he saw doubt creep into Eliza.

“
Do you know how it turns out?
”
s
he asked.

His heart ached
.
This
was the closest to
his
‘
Lizzie
’
he had seen in nearly five centuries
,
and still he thought she might be acting for his benefit.

“
I am but a player in this game
,
Eliza.
”

“
I am
not
a player,
”
s
he said defiantly.
“
I make the rules.
”

“
Then someone is changing the game.
”

“
We
’
ll see about that.
”

Tomas was not happy with the set of Eliza
’
s jaw
.
She
had something in mind
,
and it did not
sit
well with him.
“
Where are we going?
”
h
e asked as he started the car.

“
Drive, I
’
ll let you know when we have arrived.
”

***

“
Eliza
,
it has been hours
. P
erhaps if you told me where we were going?
”
Tomas asked.

“
I go to seek
counsel
. If Jehovah has broken covenant
,
then I will offer his counterpart the same transgression.
”

Tomas brought the car to a screeching halt.
“
What you do now is beyond reprehension
,
Eliza. But even
you cannot think involving the Dark O
ne would
benefit anyone…
least of all the person making the bargain.
”

“
I me
rely wish to talk with the Fork-tongued One.
No
agreement will be struck.
”

“
Eliza
,
no!
”
Tomas begged.

“
Just drive,
the sooner we get to New Orleans
,
the sooner
I can go and kill Michael Talbot AGAIN!
”
 

Mike Journal Entry 10

“
Rune
stones
,
man!
”
John said as he jumped on the back.

“
What?
”
I asked. I hadn
’
t even seen the stones
,
and considering they were the size of a man
, that
was not easy to do. My eyes were transfixed
on
the green military boxes. I ran back to the cab of the truck and grabbed the crowbar I had seen resting under the seat. I can guarantee anyone that is reading this journal that they would have been hard pressed to find any kid in any country during any Christmas throughout the ages that wa
s more excited to open a box tha
n I was that day.

“
M-240
s
and M-16s
,
”
I mumbled, possibly drooling on myself as I placed the crowbar in a slight opening.

It was too much t
o hope that the markings on the box matched the contents. John was a few feet away rubbing the rocks, he was muttering something. Azile was alternating between watching our backs and checking out the contents.

“
Holy fucking shit,
”
I said as the top popped free.

“
What is that?
”
John asked
,
taking a second to look over.

“
John
, what
I
’
m holding here
is an
M-240
machinegun. I
t
’
ll shoot in the neighborhood of a hundred to two hundred rounds a minute without blinking and
six-fifty
a minute if I really want to put the pedal to the metal!
”
I answered as I hefted the
twenty-five pound block of death
metal out of the container.